Breeding

June 10, 2019June 10, 2019

Free the grasspea

Is there a valid scientific reason for the grasspea (Lathyrus sativus) ban in India? We’ve blogged about this before. Mongabay is now on the case.

The claim that khesari dal can cause lathyrism is increasingly being challenged by researchers who feel that the ban was not based on systemic research over a prolonged period.

So what’s the problem?

Sources in the FSSAI ((Food Safety and Standards Authority of India.)) say that the ban has helped people associated with the import of other pulses such as toor dal ((Pigeonpea, or Cajanus cajan.)). “In the wake of drop in production of popular pulses ensuing imports, traders lobby is benefitted. (Shortage of pulses in India, increases prices, benefitting traders.) They would never want the ban lifted,” said one official on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, research and breeding continue.

June 10, 2019June 11, 2019

New Vavilov movie in the multiplex

The Scientist, the Imposter and Stalin: How to Feed the People is a new film on Vavilov by Gulya Mirzoeva. It looks like it can be ordered from Icarus Films.

Made entirely with previously unreleased archival footage, THE SCIENTIST, THE IMPOSTER AND STALIN offers a rare immediacy to events that took place decades ago. It is both an engrossing story and a warning about the disastrous results of yoking science to politics.

Here’s the teaser. ((There seems to be a French version on YouTube, but I have no idea whether it’s legally there.))

June 10, 2019June 10, 2019

Brainfood: Habitat restoration, ICRISAT proso, Mobile advice, Cowpea genome, Wheat resilience, World climate, Wheat biogeography, African durum, Microalgae, Gender, Iberian barley adaptation

Indigenous Grasses for Rehabilitating Degraded African Drylands. Promising results, but it’s not easy.
Variability in the Global Proso Millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) Germplasm Collection Conserved at the ICRISAT Genebank. Asian, European and mixed clusters, based on morphology. Out of over 800 accessions, 3 (IPm 2069, IPm 2076 and IPm 2537) are rich in grain Fe, Zn, Ca, and protein.
Household-specific targeting of agricultural advice via mobile phones: Feasibility of a minimum data approach for smallholder context. A little household data goes a long way. Includes crop diversity info?
The genome of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata [L.] Walp.). There’s a gene for multiple organ gigantism.
Reduced response diversity does not negatively impact wheat climate resilience. The suggestion that the statistical methods used were faulty means wheat may not be as in trouble in Europe as a previous paper suggested.
Evaluating WorldClim Version 1 (1961–1990) as the Baseline for Sustainable Use of Forest and Environmental Resources in a Changing Climate. Maybe not as good as it might be. But what’s the alternative?
Worldwide phylogeography and history of wheat genetic diversity. Three groups, with one (the Asian genepool) hardly used in breeding.
Durum Wheat (Triticum durum Desf.): Origin, Cultivation and Potential Expansion in Sub-Saharan Africa. From the Ethiopian highlands and Saharan oases to the mainstream?
Global mapping of cost‐effective microalgal biofuel production areas with minimal environmental impact. The dry coasts of N and E Africa, the Middle East, and western S America. But how minimal is minimal?
From women’s empowerment to food security: Revisiting global discourses through a cross-country analysis. The patriarchy is resourceful.
Genetic association with high‐resolution climate data reveals selection footprints in the genomes of barley landraces across the Iberian Peninsula. Cold temperature, late‐season frost occurrence and water availability have driven landrace genetic differentiation.

June 7, 2019June 7, 2019

Nibbles: Coffee science, Bob Marley’s weed, Diversity video, CIP genebank, Cornell potatoes, Fiji hibiscus, Cereal festival, Organic breeding, British Neolithic, Wheat & CC, Celery history

The Coffee Science Foundation is the science foundation we all need.
In search of Bob’s ganja.
Vox vid on saving crop diversity. Pretty good, except for that thorn apple thing.
GIZ support for the CIP genebank.
Ex-CIP breeder works with VIR to bring wild potatoes to Cornell.
Or friend Lex Thomson on why Fiji is a hibiscus hotspot.
Celebrate European cereal diversity.
Dan Barber on freeing the seed. The polarisation continues.
The first British farmers walked there.
CIMMYT rebuttal of a paper saying European wheat varieties are decreasing in their climate resilience.
Celery was once a luxury.

June 3, 2019September 12, 2019

Brainfood: Plant blindness, African goats, Tissue culture, Phenotyping databases, Mekong transformation, African Fertile Crescent, Salty tomatoes, Pigeonpea domestication, Pharaonic watermelon, Apple domestication, Social media and PAs, Messaging, De novo domestication

Resetting the table for people and plants: Botanic gardens and research organizations collaborate to address food and agricultural plant blindness. There are so many ways to get people interested in plants.
A review on goats in southern Africa: an untapped genetic resource. 500-600 years of natural selection must count for something.
Agromorphologic, genetic and methylation profiling of Dioscorea and Musa species multiplied under three micropropagation systems. Methylation at some loci, but no phenotypic differences.
Modelling Crop Genetic Resources Phenotyping Information Systems. Field to figures.
Agricultural and food systems in the Mekong region: Drivers of transformation and pathways of change. Corn everywhere.
Yam genomics supports West Africa as a major cradle of crop domestication. The Niger River Basin, to be precise. How long before corn takes over?
A diversity of traits contributes to salinity tolerance of wild Galapagos tomatoes seedlings. 3 out of 67 accessions of 2 wild endemic species showed particularly high salinity tolerance.
Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp. origins and domestication: the South and Southeast Asian archaeobotanical evidence. Here’s ground zero for domestication starting about 5000 years ago: 19.397833, 80.813132.
A 3500-year-old leaf from a Pharaonic tomb reveals that New Kingdom Egyptians were cultivating domesticated watermelon. A Nile Valley origin?
Origins of the Apple: The Role of Megafaunal Mutualism in the Domestication of Malus and Rosaceous Trees. Large fruits originally evolved to attract wild horses, deer and bears, which spread them far and wide; populations isolated by the Ice Age were brought back together by humans.
Assessing global popularity and threats to Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas using social media data. Accessibility and infrastructure more important than biodiversity.
Messaging matters: A systematic review of the conservation messaging literature. Communications professionals think that more input from communications professionals is needed for conservation professionals to communicate professionally.
De Novo Domestication: An Alternative Route toward New Crops for the Future. Lots to play with, that’s for sure.