Fruits and nuts

September 21, 2016

Do you like pina colada?

Well, it could be in trouble…

“It’s fair to say that at this pace, the Caribbean is running out of coconuts,” said Compton Paul, coordinator of a regional coconut program at the Trinidad-based Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute.

September 14, 2016September 14, 2016

Nibbles: Plant blindness, Grape breeding, Mixed farming, Genebank crowdfunding, CGN collecting, Science comms

Who needs plants anyway?
Who needs seedless grapes anyway?
Who needs livestock anyway?
Who needs the CIMMYT genebank anyway?
Who needs information on germplasm collecting missions anyway?
Who needs science communications anyway?

September 13, 2016

Nibbles: Yeast phylogeny, Jurassic beer, Welsh drink, Italian fruits, Vinegar museum, Lethal yellowing, Wilderness loss

Beer yeast was domesticated in the 1600s. Or maybe not.
I see that and raise you 65 million years.
If you don’t like beer, try Lurvill’s Delight, but it’s only about 100 years old, I warn you.
Preserving ancient fruits in an Italian orchard.
And how many different types of vinegar do you think the vinegar museum has?
The Caribbean coconut is under attack.
We’ve been such bastards to the environment.

September 12, 2016September 9, 2016

Brainfood: Eurisco, Saline barley, ICRISAT sorghum, Hardy kiwi, Pepper diversity, Pakistani dates, W Africa & climate change

EURISCO: The European search catalogue for plant genetic resources. 43 countries, 400 institutes, 1.8 million accessions, and a vital part of Genesys!
Yield-related salinity tolerance traits identified in a nested association mapping (NAM) population of wild barley. Salinity allele found in wild barley.
Geographical distribution of traits and diversity in the world collection of pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br., synonym: Cenchrus americanus (L.) Morrone] landraces conserved at the ICRISAT genebank. Plant height in Burkina Faso ranges from 80 to 490cm.
Hardy Kiwifruit Genetic Resources. They’re wild.
Deciphering Genetic Diversity in the Origins of Pepper (Capsicum spp.) and Comparison with Worldwide Variability. Diversity is decreasing in Ecuador.
Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) markers show greater similarity among morphologically diverse Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) cultivars grown in Pakistan. Morphologically diverse varieties show little genetic diversity.
Assessing climate adaptation options and uncertainties for cereal systems in West Africa. About the only thing that’s going to work is increased temperature resilience during flowering.

August 22, 2016August 22, 2016

Nibbles: Artisanal bread, Phenotyping, Maris Piper, Algae, Superfood debunk, Banana 101, Indian millets, Wheat seed photosynthesis, Chili evolution

Nice tweeting about bread and other Central Asian food over past few days.
Rothamsted’s “Scanalyzer“.
The genebank origin of the UK’s premier potato, Maris Piper.
Seaweed in South America.
Repeat after me: superfoods are a scam.
Third and final instalment in The Plate’s history of the banana.
India going on a millet kick.
The wheat seed is C4? Totally crazy.
The evolution of Capsicum in half a page. Which is both too much and not enough.