- No, I don’t think the history of potatoes is at an end, but I know what they mean.
- The history of rubber in pics.
- The history of the wheat dwarfing gene.
- Svalbard makes history.
- Sicily goes back into its history for its daily bread.
- Another foothold in history for Gary Nabhan.
- History, shmistory, we need to look forward. Biohacking is the future of food. Say twelve year olds.
Nibbles: Value edition
- Peru to give value to its biodiversity.
- Germany already has, 500 years ago.
- Cavendish bananas have a lot of value, but that won’t save them.
- The UK’s vegetables genebank is very valuable.
- But you can always add more value to genebank collections if you evaluate them, like IRRI’s going to do in an expensive new building.
- I’m not sure what the value of Gold Rush-era heritage trees might be, but I think it’s really cool that someone’s looking for them.
- The value of genetic engineering for drought tolerance is just around the corner.
Brainfood: Lima bean cyanide, Hybrid powdery mildew, Amaranth core, Cotton core, Tibetan sheep, Water buffalo history
- Herbivore damage induces a transgenerational increase of cyanogenesis in wild lima bean (Phaseolus lunatus). Lamarck lives.
- Hybridization of powdery mildew strains gives rise to pathogens on novel agricultural crop species. Hybrid crop gives rise to hybrid pathogen.
- Trait-specific Amaranth Germplasm—Potentialities to Combat Climate Change. From 5,804 accessions to 623 really useful ones.
- Genetic diversity of the two commercial tetraploid cotton species in the Gossypium Diversity Reference Set. 100 SSRs on 2000 accessions yield really confusing results.
- Genetic diversity estimates point to immediate efforts for conserving the endangered Tibetan sheep of India. Only 250 individuals, but still some genetic diversity. But for how long?
- Water Buffalo Genomic Diversity and Post-Domestication Migration Routes. Two domestications, and some unexpected migration routes.
Brainfood: In situ & CC, Rare livestock phenotypes, SSR & wheat seeds, Kelp genebank, Recognizing pig landraces, Indian pigs, Benin yams, Colombian Manihot, Enset seed, Okra transgenes
- Using in situ management to conserve biodiversity under climate change. It can probably be done, but more empirical evidence of long-term effects is needed.
- Rare phenotypes in domestic animals: unique resources for multiple applications. Difficult to conserve, but worth doing, and biotech will help.
- Patterns of SSR variation in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) seeds under ex situ genebank storage and accelerated ageing. SSRs don’t help figuring out viability loss.
- Germplasm banking of the giant kelp: Our biological insurance in a changing environment. Chileans conserve female and male gametophytes in low light, at 10 °C, in Provasoli media.
- Authentication of “mono-breed” pork products: Identification of a coat colour gene marker in Cinta Senese pigs useful to this purpose. This particular pig breed can be easily and accurately identified.
- Microsatellite and Mitochondrial Diversity Analysis of Native Pigs of Indo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspot. Native Indian pigs closer to Chinese than European.
- Yam (Dioscorea spp.) responses to the environmental variability in the Guinea Sudan zone of Benin. Different varieties respond differently to different conditions, at least as regards yield.
- Diversity and genetic structure of cassava landraces and their wild relatives (Manihot spp.) in Colombia revealed by simple sequence repeats. Lots of geneflow.
- Current availability of seed material of enset (Ensete ventricosum, Musaceae) and its Sub-Saharan wild relatives. Not much.
- Monitoring adventitious presence of transgenes in ex situ okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) collections conserved in genebank: a case study. None found.
Nibbles: Tree conservation, Seed fairs, Baobab powder, Simran’s book, Cheesy prince, Companies & CC, Organic breeding
- Crowdfunding the Zero Tree Extinctions project.
- Seed fairs for climate change adaptation in Zimbabwe.
- Make mine a baobab smoothie.
- Another great review of Simran Sethi’s new book Bread, Wine, Chocolate: The Slow Loss of Foods We Love.
- Blessed are the cheesemakers.
- Big Food taking fright?
- Breeding the organic breeders of the future.