- Behavioural Response of Pure Ankole and Crossbred (Ankole x Holstein) Cows to Seasonal Pasture Variations in Southwestern Uganda. The cross-bred cows have to eat for longer than the local breed, which makes for problems during both wet and dry seasons.
- Functionally rich dung beetle assemblages are required to provide multiple ecosystem services. It’s not just about the dung removal. No word on whether cross-bred dung tastier.
- Swiddens under transition: Consequences of agricultural intensification in the Amazon. Intensification without diversification is going to be a problem.
- Developing single nucleotide polymorphism markers for the identification of pineapple (Ananas comosus) germplasm. High redundancy in the USDA collection, and little correspondence between horticultural classifications and genotyping.
- Grassland biodiversity bounces back from long-term nitrogen addition. Pollution bad for grassland biodiversity, stopping pollution good for grassland biodiversity.
Nibbles: Roots & tubers, Vegetables, Baobab sorbet, Grapevine breeding, Landscapes, CC & ag
Genebank data everywhere
Those who follow such things will no doubt be as excited as we are about the fact that USDA’s National Plant Germplasm System has just switched over from its old workhorse documentation system, GRIN, to the young pretender, GRIN-Global. 1 You can access all the passport, characterization and evaluation data USDA has on its 574,764 accessions from the GRIN-Global website. What the user sees on the public interface when searching for and ordering germplasm, though, is only a small part of the picture. All USDA genebank staff around the country are also using the Curator Tool to manage their collections and fulfil order requests. It’s been a massive undertaking. And the software is actually available to all. So if you’re a genebank curator and would like to experiment with the same documentation system that the mighty NPGS uses, check it out.
As it happens, we’ve also just come across a case of a user downloading some GRIN data and serving it up on its own. The good folks at Widespread Malus have extracted all the Malus sieversii data and stuck them in an Excel spreadsheet, to make things even easier for wild apple enthusiasts. Nice idea.
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.
Brainfood: Heirloom lentil, American oil palm, Trees on farms, Cowpea selection, Apple health benefits, Traditional remedies, Bean landscapes, Maize and CC
- Making Heritage: The Case of Black Beluga Agriculture on the Northern Great Plains. That would be Black Beluga lentils. Which seems a weird subject for feminist ethnography, generative criticism and reflexivity, but I’m game if you are.
- Genetic and phenotypic diversity of natural American oil palm (Elaeis oleifera (H.B.K.) Cortés) accessions. Four geographical clusters, and a core collection.
- Complementarity of native and introduced tree species: exploring timber supply on the east coast of Madagascar. Farmers on the edge of a protected area need a diverse mix of tree species to grow.
- Farmer participation in selection within segregating populations of cowpea in Volta Region, Ghana. From 6 F3 populations with parents from Botswana, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, and the USA to 24 lines which farmers liked.
- Apple juices from ancient Italian cultivars: a study on mature endothelial cells model. Old apple cultivars are good for you. Or at least for human umbilical vascular endothelial cells.
- Intellectual property rights, benefit-sharing and development of “improved traditional medicines”: A new approach. Ahem, what were those old apples again?
- Landscape genetics, adaptive diversity and population structure in Phaseolus vulgaris. Domestication sites (still only 2) pinpointed in the landscape.
- Changes in Climate, Crops, and Tradition: Cajete Maize and the Rainfed Farming Systems of Oaxaca, Mexico. Life is hard, and getting harder.