- Relationships between agrobiodiversity, dietary diversity and nutritional status in Tanzania. It’s really complicated.
- Microsatellite genotyping of medieval cattle from central Italy suggests an old origin of Chianina and Romagnola cattle. DNA from a couple of cattle breeds from central Italy shows remarkable similarities with that from thousand-old bones from an archaeological site in the same area.
- Strategies and approaches to sustainable livestock production in Sub Saharan Africa. It will depend on women.
- Strategies and initiatives on rice genetic resources conservation and research for climate change adaptation. Among the 1506 traditional rice varieties in the Philippines genebank are 3 which could be drought tolerant and 9 collected from really saline areas. They’re being sequenced for gene discovery.
- Next generation variety development for sustainable production of arabica coffee (Coffea arabica L.): a review. Local breeding, plus international networking.
- Why biodiversity declines as protected areas increase: the effect of the power of governance regimes on sustainable landscapes. Modelling shows land-sharing may outperform land-sparing in the long run. Most interesting consequence of the insights derived is that perhaps protected areas should be placed near agricultural frontiers rather than where biodiversity or cost-effectiveness highest.
- Biodiversity and selection for scrapie resistance in goats: genetic polymorphism in “Girgentana” breed in Sicily, Italy. Resistance gene more common in this weird breed than in the one that’s usually used in breeding.
- Reassessing the evolutionary history of ass-like equids: Insights from patterns of genetic variation in contemporary extant populations. I urge you to read the abstract yourselves and marvel at the author’ success in using the word ass-like the maximum possible number of times.
- Opinion paper: emerging markets, emerging strategies under the genomic revolution. Genomic selection is an organizational revolution as much as a technological one. At least in animal breeding.
- Genetic diversity of Eucalyptus camaldulensis Dehnh. following population decline in response to drought and altered hydrological regime. It stayed the same, I guess because of gene flow.
- Significance and value of non-traded ecosystem services on farmland. Value of biological control of pests and nitrogen mineralisation provided by organic agriculture of peas, beans, barley and wheat (extrapolated from 20 fields in NZ to whole of temperate zone) was greater than global costs of insecticides and fertilizers, even if only 10% of global arable area was converted to organic.
Nibbles: Berlin blueberries, Science hubris, Purple tea, Soil, Bushmeat, Maize breeding, Ukranian salo
- Must get myself a blueberry comb come next autumn.
- What do scientists do in response to GMO fears? “Trust us.”
- Purple tea in Kenya? Must look out for it.
- Real farmers do it on the soil.
- Bushmeat can be good for you.
- Private sector uses public sector genebank. You didn’t build that.
- “Salo is when nobody fucks with you and you’ve got a bit of money.”
Nibbles: Smelly yeast, Native American products, Perennial rice, Ag origins
- Yeast perfume. Great for Valentine’s Day.
- Webinar of discussion on “Origin Products and Native American Tribes: EU and U.S. Law and Policy.”
- The perennial attraction of perennial rice.
- Ancient Nubians knew domesticated wheat and barley earlier than thought. But not as early as Britons.
Nibbles: Citrus disease, Forests & women, Green Revolution trifecta, Lost apples, PNG & ITPGRFA, Leafy greens, Cassava development, Maize evolution vid
- Getting to grips with citrus greening.
- The fabulous church forests of Ethiopia. But are women involved?
- Three articles on why the African Green Revolution won’t be like the Asian one.
- Whatever happened to the Esopus Spitzenburg?
- Papua New Guinea ratifies the ITPGRFA.
- African indigenous vegetables for development. Hey, I’m doing my part.
- Cassava is naturally climate-smart, but yields still not rising fast enough.
- Great video on the origin of maize.
UC Davis Plant Breeding Symposium coming soon
The 2015 UC Davis Plant Breeding Symposium will take place on April 10. The topic is “Challenges in Plant Breeding: Past, Present, and Future.” There’s an interesting lineup of invited speakers, and “[t]his year is the first time that students have the chance of presenting their research during the symposium.” We’ve been promised a summary post when it’s done. But that shouldn’t stop you going, if you can, or following the webinar.