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.
Nibbles: Interactive key, Cider tax, Drought screening, Egyptian genebank, USDA animal conservation, Homegardens, Bag farms, Soil movie, Breeding Vigna, Cereals yield gap,
- Got a Neotropical flowering plant to identify? Kew has what you need.
- New Labour goes out with a whimper, and a swipe at cider-makers.
- Drought Timing for Agronomic Screening wins a prize.
- “We’ve heard about the Gene Bank project which serves to preserve certain cultivars and seed specimens, but we don’t know much else about this project.” Par for the course.
- Meanwhile, another genebank does get decent publicity.
- Women and homegardens in Bangladesh.
- Bag farms in Nairobi slum.
- Review of Dirt! The Movie.
- Boffins this close to drought-tolerant cowpeas.
- “…actual grain yield in some regions is already approximating its maximum possible yields while other regions show large yield gaps and therefore tentative larger potential for intensification.”
- The wife is going to the 1st International Symposium on Tropical Horticulture. Jamaica? No, she really wanted to go.
Rebsie’s back
A very warm welcome back to Rebsie Fairholm, the best singing backyard breeder of all time, I reckon. I’m looking forward once again to the vicarious thrill of following her adventures in pea breeding, among much else.