The latest edition of IITA’s R4D Review has various articles on agrobiodiversity issues, including a roundup of the activities of the centre’s genebank and an interview with its manager, Dr Dominique Dumet.
Battling it out over drought-tolerant maize in Africa
Maize in Africa is becoming a bit of a battlefield in the agri-culture wars. The BBC has a radio programme on the Water Efficient Maize for Africa project, which is a partnership between national programmes, CIMMYT and Monsanto, with a lot of work being done in Kenya. Predictably, it is very biotechnology-oriented, with marker-assisted selection and genetic modification to the fore.
At the other end of the spectrum, Scientific American has an article on a GEF project (funding comes also from Norway and the Netherlands) at Sakai, Kenya which is very different.
Agricultural extension officers now offer seasonal and locally relevant climate predictions explained in simple terms in Kikamba, the regional tribal language. They are now producing a handbook to translate weather predictions into practical advice about what and when to plant.
The project has also helped farmers set up a seed bank. A group of about 40 men will collect, process and preserve the best local seeds and loan them out again during the next planting season, slowly selecting for the best climate-adapted varieties.
Sakai’s farmers are hedging their bets. Increasingly, they are diversifying their crops by planting more drought-tolerant grains, peas and beans.
One wonders whether the two projects are even aware of each other, let alone talking. Maybe someone will tell us.
Modifying left, right and center
Today’s Daily News section at National Geographic had pieces on a trout genetically modified to be more muscular and a pig genetically modified to be more environmentally friendly. Is there no tweak the boffins will not contemplate?
Evaluating St John’s wort not as easy as it sounds
USDA researchers at Ames, Iowa are screening 180 accessions of St Johns wort (Hypericum) for biologically active compounds. I hope they’ll take into account phase of the moon in their evaluations:
Research on St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum, Hypericaceae) herb, one of the top ten herbal products in retail sales in the United States, has shown seasonal variation and differences due to cultivation location. Levels of hypericin and pseudohypericin, the compounds to which commercial products are usually standardized, were found to vary from 100 ppm to 5000 ppm from winter to summer. This remarkable quantitative difference in compounds could account for some of the differences in commercial products whose raw materials are usually from multiple sources. Additional studies with St. John’s wort found significant variation among wild and cultivated plants sourced from around the world.
Nibbles: Truffles, Botanicals, Cell phones, Child nutrition, Chocolate, Georgia
- Truffle genome (about to be) sequenced. Pigs unimpressed.
- Lunar influence on botanicals. Fascinating.
- Cell phones for germplasm documentation and taxonomic identification.
- Video of John Hoddinott of IFPRI discussing award-winning Lancet article on the effects of child nutrition on adult income.
- Climate-ready cacao, anyone?
- GEF agrobiodiversity project in Georgia a success story. See why.