- The Rise and Fall of African Rice Cultivation Revealed by Analysis of 246 New Genomes. Domesticated in northern Mali as a result of the decline of wild species due to the drying of the Sahara.
- Unlocking historical phenotypic data from an ex situ collection to enhance the informed utilization of genetic resources of barley (Hordeum sp.). Don’t throw away that historical data from regenerations.
- Exploiting sorghum genetic diversity for enhanced aluminum tolerance: Allele mining based on the AltSB locus. It’s more prevalent in guinea sorghums.
- Unearthing unevenness of potato seed networks in the high Andes: a comparison of distinct cultivar groups and farmer types following seasons with and without acute stress. Potatoes are not just potatoes. And farmers are not just farmers.
- Global patterns of crop yield stability under additional nutrient and water inputs. Higher variability in yield expected under higher fertilizer inputs.
- Segmental allopolyploidy in action: Increasing diversity through polyploid hybridization and homoeologous recombination. Domesticating peanuts, the right way this time.
- Applications of New Breeding Technologies for Potato Improvement. Humble no more?
- Pleistocene glacial cycles drive isolation, gene flow and speciation in the high‐elevation Andes. In Lupinus, phylogeny does not recapitulate orogeny.
- Evolution of invasiveness by genetic accommodation. In a crop wild relative, no less.
- Manihot takape sp. nov. (Euphorbiaceae), a new tuberous subshrub from the Paraguayan Chaco. A crop wild relative too.
- Back to beaked: Zea mays subsp. mays Rostrata Group in northern Italy, refugia and revival of open-pollinated maize landraces in an intensive cropping system. Title of the week. Alternative: Polenta Power.
- From zero to hero: the past, present and future of grain amaranth breeding. Runner up.
- Issues and Prospects for the Sustainable Use and Conservation of Cultivated Vegetable Diversity for More Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture. Still neglected.
- The evolutionary history of dogs in the Americas. They came over from Siberia with people, rather than evolving from local wolves, but all that’s left of them is a cancer.
Brainfood: Tunisian millet, Range expansion model, Ancient soils, Shocking maize, Ancient Chinese ag, Top questions, Maize subgenomes, Rapid breeding, Non-seed systems, Ag origins, Landscape services, Rice breeders, Using forests
- Conservation priorities for endangered coastal North African Pennisetum glaucum L. landrace populations as inferred from phylogenetic considerations and population structure analysis. In other news, there’s pearl millet in costal Tunisia.
- Is the sky the limit? On the expansion threshold of a species’ range. “…adaptation fails when genetic drift reduces genetic diversity below that required for adaptation to a heterogeneous environment.”
- Soil analysis in discussions of agricultural feasibility for ancient civilizations: A critical review and reanalysis of the data and debate from Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. They grew crops there after all.
- Future warming increases probability of globally synchronized maize production shocks. Summer is coming.
- Early agriculture at the crossroads of China and Southeast Asia: Archaeobotanical evidence and radiocarbon dates from Baiyangcun, Yunnan. Rice, foxtail millet, broomcorn millet, soybeans and Vigna spp were cultivated 2600–2000 BCE.
- Ten‐year assessment of the 100 priority questions for global biodiversity conservation. Mainly freshwater ecosystems, societal structures, and impacts.
- Ancestry of the two subgenomes of maize. Out of Africa…
- Global impact of accelerated plant breeding: Evidence from a meta-analysis on rice breeding. Fancy maths confirms faster is better.
- Understanding root, tuber, and banana seed systems and coordination breakdown: a multi-stakeholder framework. Step one: admit they’re different from true seeds.
- Hindcasting global population densities reveals forces enabling the origin of agriculture. Better conditions led to population increases led to agriculture.
- The effects of landscape patterns on ecosystem services: meta-analyses of landscape services. Landscape complexity is positively associated with ecosystem services.
- Global survey of rice breeders to investigate characteristics and willingness to adopt alternative breeding methods. Willingness to adopt new technology high, actual adoption low. Go figure.
- Identification of rice landraces with promising yield and the associated genomic regions under low nitrogen. Will they adopt this “technology,” I wonder?
- Aligning conservation efforts with resource use around protected areas. Being better off doesn’t necessarily decrease use of tiger reserves.
African rice roundup
It struck me that our friends at AfricaRice genebank and their partners have been particularly busy genotyping and phenotyping these past couple of years, so here’s a quick roundup of recent papers on the crop for easy reference.
- The Rise and Fall of African Rice Cultivation Revealed by Analysis of 246 New Genomes
- Genetic control of seed shattering during African rice domestication
- A single-nucleotide polymorphism causes smaller grain size and loss of seed shattering during African rice domestication
- Genetic Variation and Population Structure of Oryza glaberrima and Development of a Mini-Core Collection Using DArTseq
- Domestication history and geographical adaptation inferred from a SNP map of African rice
- Screening African rice (Oryza glaberrima) for tolerance to abiotic stresses: I. Fe toxicity
- Screening African Rice (Oryza glaberrima) for Tolerance to Abiotic Stresses: II. Lowland Drought
And I’m sure I’m missed a few, these are just the ones that we have included in Brainfoods…
There’s also this more popular piece on African rice in the New World.
Brainfood: Italian hotspots, Spanish apples, ICRISAT proso, Scattered trees, Underutilized Malaysian fruit, Saudi chickens, AnGR, Double dates, European threatened plants, Pepper origins, Intensification outcomes, Breeding & diversity, Cold storage, African rice
- A methodological approach to identify agro-biodiversity hotspots for priority in situ conservation of plant genetic resources. Interestingly, the centre of Italy comes out on top.
- Genetic diversity and core collection of Malus × domestica in northwestern Spain, Portugal and the Canary Islands by SSRs. There is material in common between Galicia and the Canary Islands.
- Diversity and trait-specific sources for productivity and nutritional traits in the global proso millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) germplasm collection. Out of 200, 26 were high in at least 2 nutrients.
- The importance of scattered trees for biodiversity conservation: A global meta‐analysis. It’s pretty high.
- Origin and diversity of an underutilized fruit tree crop, cempedak (Artocarpus integer, Moraceae). The germplasm collections are not too bad, at least for the cultivated form.
- Genetic diversity of Saudi native chicken breeds segregating for naked neck and frizzle genes using microsatellite markers. The 6 breeds are diverse and show no inbreeding. Yet.
- Conservation of breeds and maintenance of biodiversity: justification and methodology for the conservation of Animal Genetic Resources. Ah, so that’s why they did the above.
- What are palm groves of Phoenix? Conservation of Phoenix palm groves in the European Union. Feral can still be useful.
- Date Palm Agrobiodiversity (Phoenix dactylifera L.) in Siwa Oasis, Egypt: Combining Ethnography, Morphometry, and Genetics. Some locally recognized and named types are in fact collections of genetically distinct clones that somehow go together anyway: call them “ethnovarieties” if you wish. But not feral.
- How to meet the 2020 GSPC target 8 in Europe: priority-setting for seed banking of native threatened plants. 62.7% of European threatened species are already in genebanks, but the others won’t collect themselves. No word on what to do about dates.
- Evolutionary history of the chili pepper Capsicum baccatum L. (Solanaceae): domestication in South America and natural diversification in the Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests. Probably originated in Bolivian Amazonia and inter-Andean valleys.
- Social-ecological outcomes of agricultural intensification. Win-wins are like hen’s teeth.
- Plant breeding and diversity: A troubled relationship? There may be another bottleneck coming.
- Rapid loss of seed viability in ex situ conserved wheat and barley at 4°C as compared to −20°C storage. 4°C is not cold enough for long-term conservation.
- Genetic control of seed shattering during African rice domestication. Multiple genes lead to a range of non-shattering phenotypes.
Brainfood: Rationalizing acquisition, Empowering women, Breadfruit domestication, Rice hybrid sterility, Long-distance crop dispersal, Diversification, African leafy greens, GIAH, Silkworm cryo, Bean in situ
- Molecular markers as a tool for germplasm acquisition to enhance the genetic diversity of a Napier grass (Cenchrus purpureus syn. Pennisetum purpureum) collection. Win-win for the ILRI and Embrapa genebanks.
- Women’s empowerment in agriculture and agricultural productivity: Evidence from rural maize farmer households in western Kenya. 1% increase in women’s empowerment led to a 6-16% increase in maize yields, depending on fanciness of math.
- A transcriptome screen for positive selection in domesticated breadfruit and its wild relatives (Artocarpus spp.). Evidence of selection in 1000 genes.
- A selfish genetic element confers non-Mendelian inheritance in rice. Pollen toxin-antidote genetic system controls hybrid sterility in wild-cultivated crosses.
- Between China and South Asia: A Middle Asian corridor of crop dispersal and agricultural innovation in the Bronze Age. It’s not all demic diffusion.
- Determinants of crop diversification in rice-dominated Sri Lankan agricultural systems. Not everyone can diversify.
- Improving food-system efficiency and environmental conservation using agricultural biodiversity in Busia County: a pilot study. Giving farmers nutritional data increased their cultivation of traditional vegetables, and their income.
- The impacts of farmers’ livelihood endowments on their participation in eco-compensation policies: Globally important agricultural heritage systems case studies from China. Giving farmers money increased their income.
- Conservation of wild silkworm genetic resources through cryopreservation: Standardization of sperm processing. It’s best to recover sperm from the bursa copulatrix and spermatheca of the female moth after mating.
- Short-Term Local Adaptation of Historical Common Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) Varieties and Implications for In Situ Management of Bean Diversity. 3 years of multiplication of heritage varieties in contrasting organic farms leads to genetic changes: it takes a network to truly conserve.