Breeding

January 6, 2010February 10, 2014

Nibbles: Indian buffalo, Indian local crops, CBD, AgricultureBridge, Kew, Geo-referencing, Cyprus, China and climate change, CC icons, Chinese AnGR, FAO information, Rose symbolism, Pacific ethnobotany, Grape history and genetics, Taraxacum

Hold on to your hats, this will make up for lost time. Hope you all had a nice break, Happy New Year!

Video on the “Night Queen of Chilika.” Not what you think: it’s a buffalo breed.
Indian jury calls for more work on local crops. Wait, a jury?
Indian NGO says “[n]ational sovereignty over genetic resources could undermine food security.” Wow.
AgricultureBridge “connect[s] practitioners to each other and to leading universities to help resolve some of the world’s most pressing questions in agriculture and conservation.” We’ll see.
Big year for Kew: many new species described, including CWRs; many blogs launched; much geo-referencing done.
Not agrobiodiversity, but speaking of geo-referencing and the like…
Cypriot no man’s land good for biodiversity. Including crop wild relatives? I think we should be told.
Chinese farmers struggle to adapt to climate change. Plenty more of this kind of thing out there, no doubt. Like this, for instance?
And yet list of “climate change icons” only includes one plant. Something should be done.
Chinese researchers talk about animal genetic resources conservation. If you’re frustrated at missing that, get ready for Europeans talking about the Mediterranean pig. But meanwhile, get to grips with the FAO Animal Genetic Resources Information Bulletin.
Speaking of FAO info bulletins, feast on the ones on non-wood forest products and plant breeding.
A rose is a rose is a rose. But for the Romans?
Carcinogenic bark of endemic Pohnpei cinnamon not bad for you after all. If you boil it.
“It is ironic that the despised grape Gouais blanc was not just a parent for several of the world’s best-known and most important varieties, such as Chardonnay and Gamay noir, it was the maternal parent, providing additional DNA and potentially determining important characteristics of the offspring.” Oh, so, so ironic.
Natural rubber from weird dandelion? No, really, all kinds of boffins are working on it.

January 6, 2010January 6, 2010

Plant exploration is not dead

Not that we ever thought it was, but there are souls out there who seem to think that we already have in hand all the agricultural biodiversity we’ll ever need, so there’s no need to hunt for more or bring it back alive. The USDA’s Agricultural Research Service yesterday announced its seed-hunting plans for 2010.

[W]alnuts from Kyrgyzstan, grasses from Russia, and carrots and sunflowers from fields across the Southeastern United States.

These are just some of roughly 15 expeditions that the USDA sends out each year to look for potentially useful crops and their wild relatives. There’s more in a longer article.

December 9, 2009December 9, 2009

Nibbles: CWR protected, Aquaculture, Super potato, Maize domestication, Climate in Africa, Zimbabwe, Pepper, Chinese genebank

Indian tiger park protects crop wild relatives and other useful plants. h/t Danny.
CAPRi News highlights a book about Asian Aquaculture Successes.
Precision breeding creates super potato. Yeah, if you want an industrial feedstock, not food.
Maize moved from hand to hand, not with moving farmers. And that means … ?
An African view of climate change. Complex.
Zimbabwe’s advice on climate change: “Plant more sorghum, less maize“. Simple.
Survival farming in Zimbabwe. Hard.
Small farmers growing Piper pepper in Vietnam
China has set up its first national seed bank as part of the country’s efforts to protect biodiversity. I’ve been there, says Jeremy, and it is stunning.

December 4, 2009December 4, 2009

Bent Skovmand remembered

A Facebook post by Dag Endresen of NordGen alerted me to the recent publication of the biography of Bent Skovmand, entitled The Viking in the Wheat Field: A Scientist’s Struggle to Preserve the World’s Harvest. Bent Skovmand (1945-2007), a student of Norman Borlaug, was a very influential figure in the world of conservation and use of crop genetic resources in general, and of wheat in particular. The director of the Nordic Gene Bank (now NordGen) when he died, the books he kept in his office are touchingly maintained at NordGen’s Alnarp headquarters as a separate collection. I’ll be trying to get hold of the book.

December 2, 2009December 2, 2009

Nibbles: Potato breeding

How to breed potatoes, Basque style.