Domestication

December 15, 2016

Illustrating domestication

There’s really nothing better than a map to explain the history of domestication in an economic and effective fashion, but I have to say that this recent example from a paper on crop domestication in the Fertile Crescent misses the mark.

It’s supposed to show that…

…plant remains from archaeological sites dated to around 11,600-10,700 years ago suggest that in regions such as Turkey, Iran and Iraq, legumes, fruits and nuts dominated the diet, whereas cereals were the preferred types of plants in Jordan, Syria, Palestine and Israel.

Which I suppose it does, but I have to think they could have done better. Compare with this, from another recent paper, showing the prevalence of spotted coats in early domestic horses.

It’s still a bit busy, but much clearer than the previous one, I think.

Would be great to see an index of all such maps, maybe a mash-up in due course, even a GIF eventually?

December 14, 2016December 14, 2016

Nibbles: Reindeer, Olives, Seeds

Donner and Blitzen — reindeer domestication
Crop wild relative to the rescue, eventually, maybe. Wild olives uninfected by Xylella.
Open source seeds, a roundup.

December 7, 2016

Nibbles: Dog evolution, Horse evolution, African cassava, Jackfruit, Fairtrade quinoa, Editing tomatoes

Tibetan mastiff precursor got busy with wolves.
Very few stallions are responsible for domestic horses.
Workshop on getting the most out of cassava in central Africa. But are they talking about collections?
Jackfruit is allright.
Fairtrade keeps youngsters on the (quinoa) farm. But for how long?
Tweaking tomatoes through gene editing.

December 5, 2016December 5, 2016

Brainfood: Pre-breeding, Wheat in Ethiopia, CAP & minor crops, IITA germplasm management, Cassava improvement, B73 maize inbred, Livestock uses, Range expansion, Sustainability standards, Soybean origins, Popping sorghum

Evolving gene banks: improving diverse populations of crop and exotic germplasm with optimal contribution selection. Crop genebanks should learn from livestock breeding.
Ethiopian wheat yield and yield gap estimation: A spatially explicit small area integrated data approach. You can explain 40% of the variation in wheat yield without leaving your office.
Land Use, Yield and Quality Changes of Minor Field Crops: Is There Superseded Potential to Be Reinvented in Northern Europe? The CAP has been really bad for minor crops in Finland.
Navigating international exchange of plant genetic resources amidst biosecurity challenges: experiences of IITA in Africa. Genebanks need to work closely with people who know about phytosanitary rules.
Rooting for cassava: insights into photosynthesis and associated physiology as a route to improve yield potential. Canopy structure and architecture could do with improvement. No doubt IITA are working on that.
Genetic variability within accessions of the B73 maize inbred line. Is greater than it should be.
Using Rare Breeds in Animal-Assisted Activities: A New Model Proposed at the “Animal Farm” in Ladispoli (Rome, Italy). Worthy effort, terrible name.
Adaptive and non-adaptive evolution of trait means and genetic trait correlations for herbivory resistance and performance in an invasive plant. When plants are released from pressure from natural enemies, they gradually lose resistance to herbivory and perform better, but independently.
How Can High-Biodiversity Coffee Make It to the Mainstream Market? The Performativity of Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS) and Outcomes for Coffee Diversification. Apparently, it can’t, not without changing its flavour.
Genetic diversity center of cultivated soybean (Glycine max) in China – New insight and evidence for the diversity center of Chinese cultivated soybean. Here. But not only.
Heritability of Popping Characteristics in Sorghum Grain. You can breed for popping quality, but environment also has an effect.

December 2, 2016December 2, 2016

Nibbles: Cryoconservation, Barley history, Beer in UNESCO, Future crops, Pacific crops, Ag & biodiversity, Sequencing NUS, Market education, Mauritanian camels

Cryo congress coming.
Ancient farmers enjoyed a beer…
…and now we all can.
Yeah but what’s next in the improvement pipeline?
CePaCT: The Video.
Why can’t we all just get along?
Genetic maps are from Mars, nutrition is from Venus…
Using markets to teach biodiversity.
The end of camel herding?