- Indigenous Grasses for Rehabilitating Degraded African Drylands. Promising results, but it’s not easy.
- Variability in the Global Proso Millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) Germplasm Collection Conserved at the ICRISAT Genebank. Asian, European and mixed clusters, based on morphology. Out of over 800 accessions, 3 (IPm 2069, IPm 2076 and IPm 2537) are rich in grain Fe, Zn, Ca, and protein.
- Household-specific targeting of agricultural advice via mobile phones: Feasibility of a minimum data approach for smallholder context. A little household data goes a long way. Includes crop diversity info?
- The genome of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata [L.] Walp.). There’s a gene for multiple organ gigantism.
- Reduced response diversity does not negatively impact wheat climate resilience. The suggestion that the statistical methods used were faulty means wheat may not be as in trouble in Europe as a previous paper suggested.
- Evaluating WorldClim Version 1 (1961–1990) as the Baseline for Sustainable Use of Forest and Environmental Resources in a Changing Climate. Maybe not as good as it might be. But what’s the alternative?
- Worldwide phylogeography and history of wheat genetic diversity. Three groups, with one (the Asian genepool) hardly used in breeding.
- Durum Wheat (Triticum durum Desf.): Origin, Cultivation and Potential Expansion in Sub-Saharan Africa. From the Ethiopian highlands and Saharan oases to the mainstream?
- Global mapping of cost‐effective microalgal biofuel production areas with minimal environmental impact. The dry coasts of N and E Africa, the Middle East, and western S America. But how minimal is minimal?
- From women’s empowerment to food security: Revisiting global discourses through a cross-country analysis. The patriarchy is resourceful.
- Genetic association with high‐resolution climate data reveals selection footprints in the genomes of barley landraces across the Iberian Peninsula. Cold temperature, late‐season frost occurrence and water availability have driven landrace genetic differentiation.
Nibbles: Coffee science, Bob Marley’s weed, Diversity video, CIP genebank, Cornell potatoes, Fiji hibiscus, Cereal festival, Organic breeding, British Neolithic, Wheat & CC, Celery history
- The Coffee Science Foundation is the science foundation we all need.
- In search of Bob’s ganja.
- Vox vid on saving crop diversity. Pretty good, except for that thorn apple thing.
- GIZ support for the CIP genebank.
- Ex-CIP breeder works with VIR to bring wild potatoes to Cornell.
- Or friend Lex Thomson on why Fiji is a hibiscus hotspot.
- Celebrate European cereal diversity.
- Dan Barber on freeing the seed. The polarisation continues.
- The first British farmers walked there.
- CIMMYT rebuttal of a paper saying European wheat varieties are decreasing in their climate resilience.
- Celery was once a luxury.
Nibbles: Ancient drugs, Potato genebank people, Hot potato, IPBES report, Iowa State doc, Vanilla banana, Indian rice lady, ITPGRFA
- The deep history of inhaling.
- CIP genebank scientists honoured.
- But do they know about the most expensive potato in the world?
- The thinking behind that IPBES 1 million threatened species number.
- Seed documentary wins awards.
- Tasty blue bananas.
- One-woman genebank in India.
- Meanwhile, in Rome, negotiations to improve the Plant Treaty continue… Fingers crossed.
Nibbles: Japan rice ceremony, Breeding for CC, MSB, ICARDA, Peanut genome, Wild sorghum, Macadamia diversity, Eucalyptus taxonomy, German foraging, Kenya agricultural biodiversity, Mexican CWR video
- New emperor, new rice.
- Breeders discover GxE.
- The Millennium Seed Bank is not just for millennials.
- ICARDA’s genebank in the news again.
- ICRISAT’s gene-jockeys have their 15 minutes.
- Australia’s genebank in the news again too.
- Maybe they should sort out macadamia next.
- How botany works. Lots from Oz today.
- Foraging in Berlin.
- Kenya sees the agricultural biodiversity light.
- Video on CWR from Mexico.
Brainfood: Rice longevity, HTFP, Carob diversity, Coffee diversity, Tea in China, In situ CWR, Hot potatoes, Luffa diversity, Sorghum production constraints, Flax diversity, Fox snout drugs, Hybrids and adaptation
- A high proportion of beta-tocopherol in vitamin E is associated with poor seed longevity in rice produced under temperate conditions. The ratio of different antioxidants is an indicator of seed longevity.
- Review: High-throughput phenotyping to enhance the use of crop genetic resources. Phenomics is the new genomics.
- Genetic structure analysis and selection of a core collection for carob tree germplasm conservation and management. NE Spain is different to the rest.
- Population structure and genetic relationships between Ethiopian and Brazilian Coffea arabica genotypes revealed by SSR markers. Western Ethiopian diversity is largely untapped.
- Clustering analysis for wild ancient tea germplasm resources in Debao County and Longlin County, Guangxi based on SSR molecular markers. They’re quite different to tea from others parts of China.
- Modeling of crop wild relative species identifies areas globally for in situ conservation. 150 sites needed for 65% of 1200 CWR species in 167 genepools.
- Heat Tolerance in Diploid Wild Potato Species In Vitro. S. kurtzianum and S. sogarandinum were the most heat tolerant.
- The establishment of the species-delimits and varietal-identities of the cultivated germplasm of Luffa acutangula and Luffa aegyptiaca in Sri Lanka using morphometric, organoleptic and phylogenetic approaches. The less grown species tasted better.
- A Regional Comparison of Factors Affecting Global Sorghum Production: The Case of North America, Asia and Africa’s Sahel. New varieties needed, and seed exchange.
- The genetic structure of flax illustrates environmental and anthropogenic selections that gave rise to its eco-geographical adaptation. 4 major groups: Temperate, South Asian, Abyssinian and Mediterranean.
- Chemical evidence for the use of multiple psychotropic plants in a 1,000-year-old ritual bundle from South America. Well that’s like your opinion, man.
- Hybridization speeds adaptive evolution in an eight-year field experiment. n=2, but still.