Archaeology

September 29, 2015February 3, 2016

Wheat that goes around, comes around

There’s lots of fascinating material in Robert Spengler’s new review paper on Agriculture in the Central Asian Bronze Age. ((Spengler, R. (2015). Agriculture in the Central Asian Bronze Age Journal of World Prehistory, 28 (3), 215-253 DOI: 10.1007/s10963-015-9087-3)) This map of the region comes from an earlier paper of his, but sets the scene nicely.

F1.large

The thesis of the latest paper is that the conventional model of mixed agropastoralism in Central Asia gradually becoming typical nomadic pastoralism needs to be rethought. In fact, Spengler says, after looking in detail at the archaeological evidence, the mixed pastoral economies of the Bronze Age, with their distinctive package of crops derived from both further east and west in place by 2500 BC, actually intensified into the Iron Age. The result was “irrigated agriculture, sedentary villages, and a drastically altered anthropogenic landscape.”

I may come back to that in a later post, but here I want to focus on what I learned about wheat. I knew that the Green Revolution was based in large part on the use of Rht genes from a Japanese wheat called Norin 10. These genes cause dwarfing, and allow the wheat plant to divert energy into the grain rather than the straw. Yields shot up in places like India, and the Borlaug legend was born.

What I didn’t know is that there was so-called “Indian dwarf wheat” in Afghanistan, Pakistan and northern India before the Green Revolution, characterized by

…dense strong culms and erect blades, a condensed spike which expresses with short awns, glumes, and a hemispherical grain. In addition, it has increased tillering and a reduced rate of lodging…

All of the wheat found in Bronze Age Central Asia seems to have been of this type too, as far as one can tell by comparing archaeobotanical remains with herbarium and genebank material. And similar material turns up in sites in Japan and Korea a millennium and more later. Spengler is circumspect, asking for genetic studies, but it is certainly an intriguing possibility that

…pre-Harappan farmers in India bred a phenotype that would later alter agriculture globally.

September 14, 2015September 15, 2015

Brainfood: Olive oil composition, Storing rice, Fair Trade, Red List, Farmer seed systems, Dipterocarp genetic structure, Italian bread wheat, Nepal crop diversity, Rice origins

In situ evaluation of the fruit and oil characteristics of the main Lebanese olive germplasm. Some may have levels of ∆-7-stigmastenol which are on the high side. This is a chemical used in fraud detection, apparently.
Viability monitoring intervals for genebank samples of Oryza sativa. Wait for fail (<85% germination) in the active collection before testing the corresponding seedlot in the base collection.
Fair Trade and Free Entry: Can a Disequilibrium Market Serve as a Development Tool? Busted.
Green Plants in the Red: A Baseline Global Assessment for the IUCN Sampled Red List Index for Plants. 20% of species assessed are threatened with extinction, mainly from tropical rain forest, mainly as a result of conversion to agriculture and harvesting of natural resources.
Farmer seed networks make a limited contribution to agriculture? Four common misconceptions. They’re not inefficient, they’re not closed and conservative, and they’re not doomed. But they could work better and in a more egalitarian way.
Understanding local patterns of genetic diversity in dipterocarps using a multi-site, multi-species approach: Implications for forest management and restoration. In most of these species, genetically similar individuals cluster together, resulting in inbreeding, especially after fragmentation due to logging. But you can do something about that through management.
Morpho-physiolological and qualitative traits of a bread wheat collection spanning a century of breeding in Italy. The ideotype has changed significantly in Italy over the past 100 years.
Assessing links between crop diversity and food self-sufficiency in three agroecological regions of Nepal. Whether greater crop diversity translates into more stable livelihoods depends on access to markets.
A Population Genomics Insight into the Mediterranean Origins of Wine Yeast Domestication. Closest wild population to wine yeast comes from Mediterranean oak, and diverged at about the right time.
Modelling the Geographical Origin of Rice Cultivation in Asia Using the Rice Archaeological Database. Two centres of origin, in Middle Yangtze and Lower Yangtze valleys.

September 9, 2015September 9, 2015

Nibbles: Tomato diversity, Coffee trial, Basque genetics, Water and ag, Heirlooms galore, 3 trillion trees, Agroforestry, Old oats, IP in ag, Food companies and CC, Wheat Initiative, Crop game, Eggplant breeding, E African drought

One crazy French guy, 1134 tomato varieties.
The World Coffee Research International Multi Location Variety Trial really gets off the grounds. See what I did there?
The Basques descend from Neolithic farmers.
Ancient Sri Lankan irrigation systems. Which Bangladesh doesn’t need.
National Heirloom Expo is on.
Did we link to this three-trillion-tree story yet? I don’t think so. How many are edible fruit trees, I wonder?
…or indeed agroforestry and fertilizer trees. Always worth listening to Jules Pretty.
So much for the Paleolithic Diet.
In agricultural innovation, “optimal IPR use depends on the technology itself as well as on market conditions.”
Multinational food companies found to be short-sighted shock.
The global impacts of UK food consumption.
The Wheat Initiative has an agenda.
Can you recognize these crops? ‘Course you can.
Eggplant pre-breeding project involving wild relatives makes mainstream media. Faith in humanity restored. Until you see what else is on that page.
Drought hits Ethiopia. Let them eat sweet potatoes?

August 18, 2015August 18, 2015

Nibbles: Plant names, Tomato trifecta, Amaranth, Corn wars, Wild lettuce, Dying, Indian ag, Chocographic, Root symbionts, Rehabilitation, Mesquite, Extreme weather, Saviour plants, Pawpaw, Japanese rice, Coffee museum, Caribbean early ag, Amazonian livelihoods, Vislak on corn

In praise of common names. Meh. You won’t see a Latin name in this whole Nibbles. See how you like it.
Building a tomato. In Spanish.
Tracking a tomato.
The dark side of tomatoes.
Amaranth to rescue Mexicans from obesity.
Seeds of contention.
Finding the lost Least Lettuce.
Indigo goes back to the future.
What if the monsoon fails? MS Swaminathan has some answers.
Nice chocolate infographic from FAO.
A diverse microbial community in and around roots helps plants thrive. The Science article is behind a paywall, but there’s a helpful infographic on Twitter.
The US has a National Seed Strategy for Rehabilitation and Restoration. Vision? The right seed in the right place at the right time. Wish I’d thought of that.
When otherwise useful trees attack. Ah, the irony of this coming right after the previous one.
UK’s Global Food Security programme says extreme weather events are increasing and we must adapt agriculture. Good to know.
And today’s Five Plants That Will Save the World are…
Maybe add pawpaw to that?
Japanese rice farmers: change gonna come.
Nice coffee museum in Brazil.
Early agriculture in the Caribbean: Cuba and Trinidad.
The babaçu breakers of Maranhão are under threat. What’s babaçu? Yeah, well, look it up.
“Seed banking began about 30 years ago as an improvement to individual farmers storing and using their own seeds.” Riiiiight.
That Vilsak is a card.

August 12, 2015

Nibbles: Kinky crops, Hot pepper, Cary Fowler, Gin history, Open data, Quaker food, QPM in Ethiopia, Botany app, Old seeds, New tomato

Why aren’t there more crops among the orchids?
This pepper is not so much a crop as a weapon of mass destruction.
Now here’s a crop. New tomato has taste, storability, looks. But I think it’s dating.
Maize with cool amino acids reaches Ethiopia. Must have walked there.
Really old squash seeds.
Cary Fowler on the Weather Channel. You heard me.
Quakers have an opinion on the right to food and climate change. Well, why shouldn’t they? They also have a UN office, but that’s another story. No word on whether they made the Weather Channel.
Ok, so apparently the answer is data. Says a data company. And open data at that. Quakers nonplussed.
Botanizing in N or S America? There’s an app for that.
The rise and rise of gin. And I certainly need one.