Breeding

August 2, 2018August 2, 2018

Speeding up genetic gains

Gary Atlin, “plant breeder, quantitative geneticist, and consultant,” according to his Linkedin profile, has an interesting series of posts on that social network trying to figure out why varietal turnover is so slow in much of the developing world, and what can be done about it.

Public sector plant breeding programs develop the crop varieties that feed most of the world. These programs need support to modernize and accelerate the rate of genetic gains they deliver to farmers in the developing world. In much of the world, these farmers are using cultivars that are 20, 30, and even 40 years old. These farmers are inadequately protected from the effects of climate change and are not being provided with the tools they need to adapt to intensifying and commercializing cropping systems.

The discussion started about a week ago, and is well worth following. I thought there might be a way to post a thread here, but it looks like you have to actually go to Linkedin to see the posts.

July 31, 2018July 31, 2018

Nibbles: Carrot breeding, BIEN, Protected areas databases, Brazilian genebanks, Endangered coconut genebank, DSI, ABS, Climate pix, Botanical pix double, Potatoes galore, Pandanus language, Archaeological double, Palestinian seed saving

Putting the polyacetylene back into carrots.
The Botanical Information and Ecology Network gets an upgrade. Any CWRs among its 18,844,855 more observations?
And any is protected areas? This will tell how well they’re managed. Mash up with this spatial database on indigenous lands?
Otherwise, there are genebanks, though not enough in Brazil, apparently.
And not always safe.
What to do with Digital Sequence Information? Would be nice to be clear on what it is.
ABS broken down by ISF. And the CGIAR. Not DSI though.
Need climate visuals? Well, who doesn’t.
The Columbian Exchange has visuals also.
And the Royal Horticultural Society too.
Speaking of Columbian Exchange: frites. And Vavilov, chefs, etc.
Speaking about nuts in PNG. Comment by Jim Croft, who would know: “Except the species illustrated is the widespread oceanic strand species, Pandanus tectorius, not the endemic highland crop ‘karuka’, Pandanus julianettii.”
5000-year-old brewery in Egypt.
14,000-year-old bread.
Fast forward 14,000 years.

July 30, 2018July 30, 2018

Brainfood: Community forests, Pepper CWR, Banana spread, Blight plasticity, VIR wheat

Research frontiers in community forest management. Trends are for hybrid business models, REDD+ interactions and the use of secondary data.
Production of embryo rescued hybrids between the landrace “Friariello” (Capsicum annuum var. annuum) and C. baccatum var. pendulum: phenotypic and cytological characterization. Another crop wild relative enters the arena.
Earliest Musa banana from the late Quaternary sequence at Fahien Rock Shelter in Sri Lanka. People used wild bananas for 40,000 years before domesticated triplods arrived 6000 years ago.
Gene expression polymorphism underpins evasion of host immunity in an asexual lineage of the Irish potato famine pathogen. “…17 genes are not expressed in one of the two…isolates despite apparent absence of sequence polymorphisms.”
Novel sources of resistance to Septoria nodorum blotch in the Vavilov wheat collection identified by genome-wide association studies. The collection that keeps on giving.

July 23, 2018July 11, 2018

Brainfood: African rice domestication, Barley evaluation, Al & sorghum, Potato seed systems, Yield trends, Arachis resynthesis, Potato breeding, Lupinus evolution, Helianthus invasiveness, Wild cassava, Beaked maize return, Amaranth breeding, Vegetables, American dogs

The Rise and Fall of African Rice Cultivation Revealed by Analysis of 246 New Genomes. Domesticated in northern Mali as a result of the decline of wild species due to the drying of the Sahara.
Unlocking historical phenotypic data from an ex situ collection to enhance the informed utilization of genetic resources of barley (Hordeum sp.). Don’t throw away that historical data from regenerations.
Exploiting sorghum genetic diversity for enhanced aluminum tolerance: Allele mining based on the AltSB locus. It’s more prevalent in guinea sorghums.
Unearthing unevenness of potato seed networks in the high Andes: a comparison of distinct cultivar groups and farmer types following seasons with and without acute stress. Potatoes are not just potatoes. And farmers are not just farmers.
Global patterns of crop yield stability under additional nutrient and water inputs. Higher variability in yield expected under higher fertilizer inputs.
Segmental allopolyploidy in action: Increasing diversity through polyploid hybridization and homoeologous recombination. Domesticating peanuts, the right way this time.
Applications of New Breeding Technologies for Potato Improvement. Humble no more?
Pleistocene glacial cycles drive isolation, gene flow and speciation in the high‐elevation Andes. In Lupinus, phylogeny does not recapitulate orogeny.
Evolution of invasiveness by genetic accommodation. In a crop wild relative, no less.
Manihot takape sp. nov. (Euphorbiaceae), a new tuberous subshrub from the Paraguayan Chaco. A crop wild relative too.
Back to beaked: Zea mays subsp. mays Rostrata Group in northern Italy, refugia and revival of open-pollinated maize landraces in an intensive cropping system. Title of the week. Alternative: Polenta Power.
From zero to hero: the past, present and future of grain amaranth breeding. Runner up.
Issues and Prospects for the Sustainable Use and Conservation of Cultivated Vegetable Diversity for More Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture. Still neglected.
The evolutionary history of dogs in the Americas. They came over from Siberia with people, rather than evolving from local wolves, but all that’s left of them is a cancer.

July 16, 2018July 11, 2018

Brainfood: Tunisian millet, Range expansion model, Ancient soils, Shocking maize, Ancient Chinese ag, Top questions, Maize subgenomes, Rapid breeding, Non-seed systems, Ag origins, Landscape services, Rice breeders, Using forests

Conservation priorities for endangered coastal North African Pennisetum glaucum L. landrace populations as inferred from phylogenetic considerations and population structure analysis. In other news, there’s pearl millet in costal Tunisia.
Is the sky the limit? On the expansion threshold of a species’ range. “…adaptation fails when genetic drift reduces genetic diversity below that required for adaptation to a heterogeneous environment.”
Soil analysis in discussions of agricultural feasibility for ancient civilizations: A critical review and reanalysis of the data and debate from Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. They grew crops there after all.
Future warming increases probability of globally synchronized maize production shocks. Summer is coming.
Early agriculture at the crossroads of China and Southeast Asia: Archaeobotanical evidence and radiocarbon dates from Baiyangcun, Yunnan. Rice, foxtail millet, broomcorn millet, soybeans and Vigna spp were cultivated 2600–2000 BCE.
Ten‐year assessment of the 100 priority questions for global biodiversity conservation. Mainly freshwater ecosystems, societal structures, and impacts.
Ancestry of the two subgenomes of maize. Out of Africa…
Global impact of accelerated plant breeding: Evidence from a meta-analysis on rice breeding. Fancy maths confirms faster is better.
Understanding root, tuber, and banana seed systems and coordination breakdown: a multi-stakeholder framework. Step one: admit they’re different from true seeds.
Hindcasting global population densities reveals forces enabling the origin of agriculture. Better conditions led to population increases led to agriculture.
The effects of landscape patterns on ecosystem services: meta-analyses of landscape services. Landscape complexity is positively associated with ecosystem services.
Global survey of rice breeders to investigate characteristics and willingness to adopt alternative breeding methods. Willingness to adopt new technology high, actual adoption low. Go figure.
Identification of rice landraces with promising yield and the associated genomic regions under low nitrogen. Will they adopt this “technology,” I wonder?
Aligning conservation efforts with resource use around protected areas. Being better off doesn’t necessarily decrease use of tiger reserves.