- Could teff or millets topple wheat, maize and rice? Anyone for unintended consequences?
- Not if superior models lead to bigger wheat harvests. ’Cos that’s all it takes.
- That and a good book: Yield Gains in Major U.S. Field Crops.
- Did somebody mention models? Vorarlberger Bergkäse is a model cheese, and “The rind is the boundary layer between a cheese and its environment”. Welcome to the cheese microbiome.
- What’s the difference between a wine grape and a table grape? Simple: Pectic-{beta}(1,4)-galactan, extensin and arabinogalactan-protein epitopes.
- Bee biodiversity results in mo’ bigger blueberries. Now to make use of that.
- Seed policy wonks – you know who you are – will thrill to IFPRI’s new report: The seed industry in Pakistan.
- So how does that square with the Financial Express of Bangladesh’s discovery that “Agro biodiversity can improve nutrition and health”?
- How to make baobab juice. Time to edit those factsheets.
Nibbles: Cowpea blogging, Rice vs wheat psychology, IRRI rice breeding, Wheat disease, African ag success, AGRA seed, Seed certification
- Omnibus edition of recent GCP blog posts on cowpea.
- Chinese rice farmers more sharing and caring than wheat farmers.
- Wonder if that will change with all these fancy new rice varieties coming through.
- Wonder if fusarium ear blight of wheat will change that.
- No such problems in Africa, no sirree.
- Not with all these AGRA-supported seed companies taking off.
- But there’s an international component to that which is being neglected.
Game of Strawberries
As one generation of campus strawberry breeders prepares to pass the torch to another, the commission in October filed a lawsuit against the university, expressing concern that the campus would end its breeding program.
UC Davis’ reply was as loud and clear as a dragon crying out for its Mother:
“UC Davis is committed to a long-term, positive relationship with the Strawberry Commission, for the benefit of California strawberry growers and the public,“ said Helene Dillard, dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. “We are eager to resolve the legal issues and move on to address the many challenges facing the strawberry industry.”
She noted that the college has begun the recruitment process for a new breeder and plant geneticist to join the strawberry program.
To further demonstrate its commitment to maintaining a strong, secure breeding program, the college has made sure that it has two copies of the strawberry plant collection — one for use by the breeders and one to serve as a backup. Each contains patented varieties, advanced selection lines, breeding stock and historical plants.
So is it all a big misunderstanding? Time to return Oathkeeper to its scabbard? Well, there may be a bit more to it than UC Davis allows in its news article. This from an article in The Packer (tag line: Everything Produce) back in January:
The lawsuit alleges that UC-Davis breached its contract with the commission. Among the allegations, the commission says growers are no longer receiving strawberry germplasm specifically developed for them.
The commission wants a judge to stop UC-Davis from allowing two scientists to control and profit from research and cultivars commission members paid for already.
The two scientists have been working on strawberries since the commission’s formal arrangement with the school began in 1980. They are not named as defendants in the case.
According to the commission’s complaint, in early 2012 researchers Doug Shaw and Kirk Larson announced intentions to resign and take the germplasm and research to establish a private company to research and breed strawberries. The university then notified the strawberry commission it planned to terminate the breeding and research program and said it will no longer sell new strawberry varieties to the growers, according to the civil lawsuit.
So it may not be so much about the commitment of UC Davis to the breeding programme, as about the nature of control over its products. We hope the court proceedings — should it go that far — won’t turn into a Red Wedding.
Nibbles: Nepal goat project, Kenyan camels, Sustainable diet metrics, Agri-informatics centre, Cassava dishes, CC & nutrients, Yield is all, African CC hotspots, AGRA seed enterprises, PlantVillage blog, Medieval weeds, French reserve, Black garlic, Australian tree tool
- Sometimes all it takes is a goat.
- Or a camel.
- I wonder how either would figure into a metric for a sustainable diet. Wonder if these people will be interested in those metrics.
- Cassava figures in lots of different ways.
- No word on whether carbon dioxide will affect its nutrient content the way it does with other crops.
- Who cares, it’s yield we’re after. Well, that’s in trouble too in some parts of Africa.
- That’s the only way those African seed start-ups are going to survive.
- Yeah, but disease resistance is important, Shirley. PlantVillage gets a blog.
- And weeds? Don’t forget the weeds. Although of course some of them you can eat. Put that in your metrics.
- Meanwhile, France starts to re-wild. Would love to see some wild relatives in the Bois du Boulogne. Livestock wild relatives, not your crazy cousin on his gap year.
- And now we can figure out what climate change might do to them. I guess this thing might work for European animals. Says here it works for Australian trees.
- Speaking of France, garlic is quintessentially French, isn’t it? Well, maybe, but it’s also very Korean, in its black, cured form.
Getting down with Gadam sorghum
Kirinyaga County government will this week start distributing free Gadam sorghum seeds to residents of South Ngariama settlement scheme as way of fighting poverty in the area. The exercise which will see the residents receive 2,000 kg of the free seeds is expected to be flagged off by Governor Joseph Ndathi.
Interesting enough, but a month-old Kenya News Agency press release about the distribution of some sorghum seed, even free sorghum seed, wouldn’t normally exercise me unduly. Except, that is, when the above is followed by this:
The Gadam sorghum is best suited for industrial production of beer and farmers are expected to rake thousands of shillings from sale of the produce which will be marketed to the Kenya Breweries Limited (KBL).
Ah, well, now you’re talking. I did know that sorghum is increasingly being used in beer brewing in Kenya, but I didn’t realise that there was a specific variety involved, I thought any old sorghum, including landraces, would do. You can get extension leaflets on Gaudam, such as this:
Which is just as well, because there are clearly some problems with it, as well as undoubted advantages, in particular earliness. The value chain for sorghum beer in Kenya has been well documented, and from that study comes this admittedly sketchy description of the Gadam variety and its history:
Sorghum beer is made from Gadam, a semi-dwarf sorghum variety with specific market traits, including white colour, low tannin and a high starch content. Originating in Sudan, Gadam was officially introduced in Kenya as a food crop in 1972 but then re-launched as an industrial crop in eastern Kenya in 2004. The KARI Seed Unit, located at Katumani, was established to grow and market seed of open-pollinated varieties (OPVs) that were unprofitable for private seed companies. It is the biggest producer of sorghum seed in Kenya. The Seed Unit sub-contracts seed production to 3000 growers who are advanced seed and repay in kind after harvest. The minimum acreage for a contract farmer is five acres. The Seed Unit buys whatever quantity farmers want to sell, provided it passes seed inspection by KEPHIS. Sales are made to large buyers but not to stockists because of risk of adulteration
Gadam is widespread and common enough to have been included as a sort of control in a recent survey of sorghum diversity in Kenya, which includes this passage:
In contrast to the case of some landraces, improved varieties were uniformly distributed and their frequencies did not differ between ethnic groups. The recently introduced Gadam variety was genetically distinct from the landraces and showed limited introgression from the other genetic clusters. It was genetically uniform and complied with certified control. However, farmers also gave the names of local and already known variety to individuals that have the same genetic profile as Gadam, an improved variety. This can be explained by a morphological similarity. Yet it raises the question of the consequences this will have for the on-farm evolution of the improved variety. Kaguru, for instance, which was introduced in the area 10–15 years ago, seems to have evolved differently across ethnic groups.
So Gadam‘s genetic future is uncertain. It may well change significantly, and in different ways in different places, and that will be interesting to follow, though those brewers may perhaps object. But what about its past? Can we trace Gadam back in time to its source? Unfortunately, I was not able to find anything online about its pedigree or breeding history, beyond hints at the involvement of ICRISAT, and vague references to an ultimate origin in Sudan. I’ll have to ask some sorghum experts, I suppose. Or look harder. However, my searches did produce one lead. There are 5 entries in GRIN that feature the word Gadam, including two from Sudan, a 1945 introduction called Gadam El Haman, PI152664, and a much later introduction called Gadam El Hamam, PI571389.
Note the slight difference in the last word of the name — hamaN versus hamaM. I think the first version may perhaps be a typo. I can’t find an Arabic word that can plausibly be transliterated as hamaN; hamaM, on the other hand, may mean “bath,” or perhaps “dove.” Gadam is even trickier, because that initial G could equally be a ق (leading to the noun “foot”, or possibly to a verb which may mean “to present”), or a خ (leading to the verb “to serve”). Bringing my mighty Arabic resources to bear on the problem, I conclude that the full name could well be translated as “footbath.” Or perhaps “serving the dove.” The perils of a little knowledge. Whichever it is (and I can’t for the life of me think why a sorghum variety should be called either), I’m no closer to knowing whether either, or neither, of those PI numbers is the ultimate source of Kenya’s Gadam, tout court. But I’m going there next week. Maybe I’ll ask around. If I find anything, I’ll let you know. And have a sorghum beer in celebration.