- Genotyping-by-sequencing highlights original diversity patterns within a European collection of 1191 maize flint lines, as compared to the maize USDA genebank. “The joint analysis of collections by GBS offers opportunities for a global diversity analysis of maize inbred lines.”
- Genetic Diversity among Selected Elite CIMMYT Maize Hybrids in East and Southern Africa. It could, and should, be more.
- Genetic diversity and intra-racial structure of Chilean Choclero corn (Zea mays L.) germplasm revealed by simple sequence repeat markers (SSRs). There’s diversity within the race. More than in Europe or elite African hybrids? Er, well…
- The effect of grazing exclusion over time on structure, biodiversity, and regeneration of high nature value farmland ecosystems in Europe. Both undergrazing and overgrazing are bad for the Portuguese montado.
- Wild Relatives of Cultivated Plants in India. Huge book, much of it on Google Books.
- Farmer variety exchange along Amazonian rivers influences the genetic structure of manioc maintained in a regional Brazilian GeneBank. No structure among the 5 main Amazonian rivers.
- Assessing and exploiting functional diversity in germplasm pools to enhance abiotic stress adaptation and yield in cereals and food legumes. Integration is the answer.
- Implementing Access and Benefit Sharing for Seed Banking. Working with Indigenous traditional owners to collect and conserve CWR in Australia.
- Genome re-sequencing reveals the history of apple and supports a two-stage model for fruit enlargement. But only one post-domestication. Also, wild apples E of the Tien Shan are totally untapped. Nice map.
- The Citrus Route Revealed: From Southeast Asia into the Mediterranean. Along with apples? Here’s more.
- Reconstructing Asian faunal introductions to eastern Africa from multi-proxy biomolecular and archaeological datasets. Mid-first millennium CE, or 3000 BCE? For chickens and rats, the former.
- Geoarchaeological evidence for the construction, irrigation, cultivation, and resilience of 15th-18th century AD terraced landscape at Engaruka, Tanzania. Soil erosion can be domesticated.
- Identifying ‘plantscapes’ at the Classic Maya village of Joya de Cerén, El Salvador. Central American Pompeii offers up casts of eerie ghost gardens of plaster casts of ancient crops.
Nibbles: Cyprus seeds, Vietnamese rice, Policy briefs, English breakfast tea, Magic mushrooms, Peanut ontology Moccasin Boots, GeoAgro, Zea archaeology, Oenoarchaology, Old ham, ICRISAT genebank, Coffee podcast, ITPGRFA, Amphicarpaea bracteata
- “It is like archaeology to me. When you save an ancient seed it is like saving a sculpture. It represents the culture, tradition and history. Different types have different traits and intense flavours, like tomatoes years ago for example.”
- Vietnamese specialty rices direct from the genebank. Totally unrelated to this NY Times video-essay on Hmong rice farming.
- Time for tea.
- Making coffee good again. Jeremy explores fair trade and Fair Trade. Do tea now, please, Cherfas.
- ‘Shrooms got magic horizontally, man.
- Why do circus peanuts taste of bananas?
- Bringing back the mouse bean. Which may or may not taste of bananas.
- Cool maize book to round off the Native American crops trifecta.
- Oh no, here’s another one. Pinning down maize domestication.
- Funky ICARDA agroclimatological app.
- REALLY old Italian wine. And something to go with it.
- ICRISAT has a genebank in Zimbabwe too.
- Plant Treaty transfers hit a milestone.
- Policy brief on policy briefs. Homework: do a killer policy brief on any of the above.
Brainfood: DNA barcoding, Extremophiles, Chinese wild walnut, Sheep breeders, Argentinian beans, Biobanks QMS, E African seed systems, Apulian vines, People & diversity, Ancient farmers
- Identification of zucchini varieties in commercial food products by DNA typing. You can trace zucchini varieties in food products despite various kinds of processing.
- Anaerobic microorganisms in astrobiological analogue environments: from field site to culture collection. Practicing to collect genetic resources on Mars.
- Genetic diversity and population structure in the narrow endemic Chinese walnut Juglans hopeiensis Hu: implications for conservation. It’s in trouble.
- Do traditional sheep breeders perform conscious selection? An example from a participatory breeding program of Morada Nova sheep. Breeders of purebreds use different criteria to those of crossbreds.
- Characterization of common bean wild populations for their in situ conservation in Northwestern Argentina. Some populations should be conserved because they’re pure wild, the rest because they’re not pure wild.
- Quality Management System for Research Biobanks: a Tool to Incentivize Public-Private Partnerships. ISO developing a QMS specifically for biobanks. Full text in Google Books.
- Cryopreservation of fruit germplasm. Elements of a strategy for Germany.
- Implications of Seed Policies for On-Farm Agro-Biodiversity in Ethiopia and Uganda. 117 provisions in 21 national seed policies in coded for implications for availability and accessibility of improved, quality-controlled and genetically diverse local seed in both the formal and informal seed systems. Ok, now what?
- Measuring the financial sustainability of vine landraces for better conservation programmes of Mediterranean agro-biodiversity. Landraces are not worth it, because of low yields.
- Traditional People, Collectors of Diversity. ‘Nuff said.
- Changes in human skull morphology across the agricultural transition are consistent with softer diets in preindustrial farming groups. Cheese changed your skull shape.
Brainfood: Temperate maize, Pre-Neolithic Revolution, Social media, European maize
- Genomic estimation of complex traits reveals ancient maize adaptation to temperate North America. “The diversity needed for high altitudes was there, but getting it in the right combination took 2,000 years,” says ancient maize DNA.
- The deep human prehistory of global tropical forests and its relevance for modern conservation. There were “garden cities” in the tropical forests of equatorial Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia starting 45,000 years ago.
- An Introduction to Social Media for Scientists. Choose wisely.
- Is there an optimum level of diversity in utilization of genetic resources? It depends.
Brainfood: Sustainability index, Beet wild relative, Participatory goats, Sarma, Wild wheat & drought, Ahipa conservation, Saving genebanks, Chinese cattle, Bolivia & CC, Seed systems, Cereal residues
- Sustainability assessment of agricultural systems: The validity of expert opinion and robustness of a multi-criteria analysis. Experts know their stuff.
- Genetic diversity of Patellifolia patellaris from the Iberian Peninsula, a crop wild relative of cultivated beets. 271 individuals, 10 sites, maybe 3 genetic groupings?
- Production system and participatory identification of breeding objective traits for indigenous goat breeds of Uganda. Resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses are the priority.
- Plant diversity for sarma in Turkey: nature, garden and traditional cuisine in the modernity. 73, including 3 endemics.
- Identification of ecogeographical gaps in the Spanish Aegilops collections with potential tolerance to drought and salinity. Evaluation avant la lettre.
- Trends and drivers of on-farm conservation of the root legume ahipa (Pachyrhizus ahipa) in Bolivia over the period 1994/96–2012. Price is too low.
- The Vulnerability of Plant Genetic Resources Conserved Ex Situ. The problem: “…genebanks around the world are generally under stress, largely from inadequate public investment, weakened political support, and insufficient stakeholder engagement.” The solution: privatization, commodification, consolidation, prioritization, communication.
- Species composition and environmental adaptation of indigenous Chinese cattle. Taurine-indicine cline N-S, with traces of banteng, gayal and yak.
- Climate change and crop diversity: farmers’ perceptions and adaptation on the Bolivian Altiplano. Maintaining multiple varieties still done, despite not seen as climate adaptation.
- A Risk Assessment Framework for Seed Degeneration: Informing an Integrated Seed Health Strategy for Vegetatively Propagated Crops. Actually not seed, but rather what to do about pathogen build-up in vegetative planting material. Turns out farmers can be quite good at producing clean material if they can choose healthy plants.
- New criteria for the molecular identification of cereal grains associated with archaeological artefacts. Alkylresorcinols, basically.