- Population structure of honey bees in the Carpathian Basin (Hungary) confirms introgression from surrounding subspecies. The Hungarian honeybee is holding its own. For now.
- Genetic Variability and Heritability Estimates of Nutritional Composition in the Leaves of Selected Cowpea Genotypes [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.]. Something else you can breed for.
- The Southwestern fringe of Europe as an important reservoir of caprine biodiversity. Local goat breeds in Spain and Portugal have few numbers, but much diversity, though in general weakly structured.
- Are you getting what you ordered from your genebank? Fingerprinting of the clonal potato and sweetpotato collections at the International Potato Center. Ahem. Maybe not.
- Seed exchange networks and food system resilience in the United States. Let my seeds go!
- Barnyard grasses were processed with rice around 10000 years ago. Rice had to fight it out with other wetland grasses to get domesticated.
- Whole genome re-sequencing of date palms yields insights into diversification of a fruit tree crop. Independent history in North Africa and the Middle East, but unclear if because of separate domestications or migration westward and introgression with local wild populations. Fruit colour genes the same as in oil palm.
- Pollinator conservation — The difference between managing for pollination services and preserving pollinator diversity. The point is that there’s a difference.
- Worse Comes to Worst: Bananas and Panama Disease—When Plant and Pathogen Clones Meet. TR4 is a single clone.
Brainfood: Heirloom lentil, American oil palm, Trees on farms, Cowpea selection, Apple health benefits, Traditional remedies, Bean landscapes, Maize and CC
- Making Heritage: The Case of Black Beluga Agriculture on the Northern Great Plains. That would be Black Beluga lentils. Which seems a weird subject for feminist ethnography, generative criticism and reflexivity, but I’m game if you are.
- Genetic and phenotypic diversity of natural American oil palm (Elaeis oleifera (H.B.K.) Cortés) accessions. Four geographical clusters, and a core collection.
- Complementarity of native and introduced tree species: exploring timber supply on the east coast of Madagascar. Farmers on the edge of a protected area need a diverse mix of tree species to grow.
- Farmer participation in selection within segregating populations of cowpea in Volta Region, Ghana. From 6 F3 populations with parents from Botswana, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, and the USA to 24 lines which farmers liked.
- Apple juices from ancient Italian cultivars: a study on mature endothelial cells model. Old apple cultivars are good for you. Or at least for human umbilical vascular endothelial cells.
- Intellectual property rights, benefit-sharing and development of “improved traditional medicines”: A new approach. Ahem, what were those old apples again?
- Landscape genetics, adaptive diversity and population structure in Phaseolus vulgaris. Domestication sites (still only 2) pinpointed in the landscape.
- Changes in Climate, Crops, and Tradition: Cajete Maize and the Rainfed Farming Systems of Oaxaca, Mexico. Life is hard, and getting harder.
Brainfood: Camel diversity, Livestock vs wildlife, Tunisian fig diversity, In vitro artichokes, Habanero diversity, Sorghum diversity double, Greek cherry diversity, Barley domestication, Omani bananas, IBPGR collecting, Buckwheat flow
- Molecular characterization of camel breeds of Gujarat using microsatellite markers. The two sympatric camel breeds Kachchhi and Kharai are genetically distinct.
- Beefing Up Species Richness? The Effect of Land-Use on Mammal Diversity in an Arid Biodiversity Hotspot. Livestock and wildlife can co-exist.
- Analysis of genetic diversity of Tunisian caprifig (Ficus carica L.) accessions using simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Diversity low and mixed up.
- A validated slow-growth in vitro conservation protocol for globe artichoke germplasm: A cost-effective tool to preserve from wild to elite genotypes. Sounds promising.
- Synthesis of a base population of Habanero pepper. That’s an equal mixture of F2 seeds from all crosses obtained among 31 accessions. Now go crazy, breeders!
- ISSR-based analysis of genetic diversity among sorghum landraces growing in some parts of Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Differentiates some white from dark-grained landraces, and among some geographic areas.
- Assessment of sorghum germplasm from Burkina Faso and South Africa to identify new sources of resistance to grain mold and anthracnose. Breeders book flight to Ouagadougou.
- Diversity of morpho-physiological traits in worldwide sweet cherry cultivars of GeneBank collection using multivariate analysis. The national and international material from the Greek genebank falls into 3 groups. Apparently that will be useful to breeders. Who are unavailable for comment.
- Barley domestication: the end of a central dogma? Non-centres, not centres.
- Distribution and diversity of banana (Musa spp.) in Wadi Tiwi, northern Oman. An unfavourable environment at a crossroads of trade routes makes for interesting diversity.
- Plant genetic resources collections and associated information as a baseline resource for genetic diversity studies: an assessment of the IBPGR-supported collections. IBPGR collecting missions in 136 countries between 1975 and 1995 collected over 200,000 samples: here comes the data.
- Social and environmental influences on tartary buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum Gaertn.) varietal diversity in Yunnan, China. Lots of exchange of material among farmers, which needs to continue.
Brainfood: Wild barley diversity double, Sesame diversity, Coconut genome size, Giant anteater, Sucking mangoes, Teff development, PhilRice, Korean soybeans, Coffee forest management, Switchgrass diversity, Yam diversity
- Analysis of Correlations Between Climate and Molecular Adaptive Evolution of Wild Barley with Geographical Information Systems (GIS). Some genes are associated with climatic variables in wild barley, others not so much.
- Molecular Genotyping of Historical Barley Landraces Reveals Novel Candidate Regions for Local Adaption. Latitudinal structuring in northern European barley landraces down to 7 SNPs. Not clear if related to above.
- Morphological and genetic diversity assessment of sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) accessions differing in origin. Not much geographic structure.
- Ploidy and domestication are associated with genome size variation in Palms. Tall coconuts show more variation in genome size than dwarfs.
- Protected areas effectiveness in maintaining viable giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) populations in an agricultural frontier. I just wanted to link to a paper on the giant anteater.
- Genetic Diversity in Seedling Populations of Mango. What exactly are “sucking purposes”?
- Diversifying crops for food and nutrition security — a case of teff. Hipsters will save orphan crops.
- Conservation of Rice Genetic Resources for Food Security. In the Philippines genebank, that is.
- Soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill]: Importance as A Crop and Pedigree Reconstruction of Korean Varieties. 168 of 178 varieties released in the last 100 years in Korea can be traced to 4 pedigrees.
- In-situ Conservation of wild forest coffee — Exploring the potential of participatory forest management in south west Ethiopia. It’s the communities, stupid.
- Switchgrass Germplasm Resources. Upland and lowland ecotypes, different ploidy levels, latitudinal differentiation, and a national collection at USDA to play with.
- Participatory evaluation of Guinea yam (Dioscorea cayenensis Lam.–D. rotundata Poir. complex) landraces from Benin and agro-morphological characterization of cultivars tolerant to drought, high soil moisture and chips storage insects. 5-15% of over 400 varieties (including duplications) are good for one thing or another.
Brainfood: Wild maize, Elderberry phenolics, Barley & boron, Land sparing trifecta, Sustainable diets, Chinese apple diversity, Turkish okra diversity, Barcoding yams, Plant diversity levels, Biotic velocity
- Presence of Zea luxurians (Durieu and Ascherson) Bird in Southern Brazil: Implications for the Conservation of Wild Relatives of Maize. Well there’s a turnup for the books.
- Fruit Phenolic Composition of Different Elderberry Species and Hybrids. Some interspecific hybrids have high phenolics levels.
- Diversity in boron toxicity tolerance of Australian barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) genotypes. There’s variation beyond the 4 known boron tolerance loci.
- Agriculture and the threat to biodiversity in Sub-Saharan Africa. Intensification is good for biodiversity, but not yet.
- Land for Food & Land for Nature? The former, according to modelling. But it depends. See above.
- Wildlife-friendly farming increases crop yield: evidence for ecological intensification. Trifecta!
- Is a Cardio-Protective Diet Sustainable? A Review of the Synergies and Tensions Between Foods That Promote the Health of the Heart and the Planet. Yes, but it will take some work.
- Genetic diversity of Malus cultivars and wild relatives in the Chinese National Repository of Apple Germplasm Resources. The varieties from the former Soviet republics and Japan are different to each other and to the canonical European/North American/Chinese material.
- Genetic and phenotypic variation of Turkish Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L. Moench) accessions and their possible relationship with American, Indian and African germplasms. Turkish okra comes from all over the place.
- DNA barcoding of the main cultivated yams and selected wild species in the genus Dioscorea. 16/21 species I guess is a start.
- Plant responses to climatic extremes: within-species variation equals among-species variation. For a bunch of European grassland plants, within species variation in response to climate was as high as that among species.
- Biotic and Climatic Velocity Identify Contrasting Areas of Vulnerability to Climate Change. Tropical species can’t move fast enough.