Fruits and nuts

June 9, 2014June 9, 2014

Nibbles: Genomes galore: beans, sheep, citrus, Breeding from “weeds”, Talks, Old wheat, Adaptation, Popped sorghum, Managing BXW

Can’t move for genomes today.

First off, Phaseolus vulgaris.
Next up, sheep: one genome, three stories:

And citrus diversity: “Citrus has incestuous genes. Nothing is pure.”

But there is other stuff too.

How weeds could feed billions. Not by eating them but by breeding from them. Are crop wild relatives really all weeds?
TED talks on biodiversity. I suppose we should be grateful for 1.5 out of 30.
A New York baker has been exploring tumminia wheat. Without telling us.
Adaptation to climate change hardly worth it, according to econ 101.
So you want to make your own popped sorghum? All you need is a microwave and a paper bag.
ProMusa reports on an easier and better way for banana farmers to manage Xanthomonas wilt.

June 9, 2014May 24, 2014

Brainfood: Homegardens, AnGR genomic conservation, Forest services, Desert wheat, Wild artichoke, Enset ethnobotany, Turkish sheep, Eggplant evaluation, Bolivian maize, Cattle & fire

Biodiversity conservation in home gardens: traditional knowledge, use patterns and implications for management. Most cliches about homegardens are valid in Benin, apart from the one which suggests old people know more about them.
Genomics applied to management strategies in conservation programmes. How gene jockeys can help you maintain enough diversity within breeds, but no more.
Living close to forests enhances people׳s perception of ecosystem services in a forest–agricultural landscape of West Java, Indonesia. And agroforests perceived as being best providers of services, even better than actual forest.
Saharan wheats: before they disappear. Surprisingly, they have not been much studied.
The wild gene pool of globe artichoke. Four wild species lack studies of crossability with the cultigen, but look interesting and could actually be in GB2.
Indigenous knowledge, use and on-farm management of enset (Ensete ventricosum (Welw.) Cheesman) diversity in Wolaita, Southern Ethiopia. Maybe 100 varieties, 10 dishes, lots of knowledge.
Genetic diversity in nine native Turkish sheep breeds based on microsatellite analysis. Most variation within breeds, but not much higher that that of European breeds.
Genetic Diversity, Population Structure, and Resistance to Phytophthora capsici of a Worldwide Collection of Eggplant Germplasm. 99 accessions, 4 species, 5 continents, 32 countries, 1 resistant genotype.
Conserving agrobiodiversity amid global change, migration, and nontraditional livelihood networks: the dynamic uses of cultural landscape knowledge. Things are changing, but maize diversity abides.
Fuel, fire and cattle in African highlands: Traditional management maintains a mosaic heathland landscape. Sustainable management of vegetation (including some CWR?) in Ethiopian highlands means using fire and cattle in consort.

June 7, 2014June 7, 2014

Nibbles: Neolithic farmers, Minoan DNA, Cretan food, Olive history book, Organic dreams, Fairtrade experiment, Value chains, Jamaican breadfruit exports, Climate smart successes

Neolithic farmers spread into Europe by sea.
And it looks like the ones who got to Crete eventually gave rise to the Minoans.
And ate food not unlike what Cretans ate up to a hundred years ago.
Well of course the olive is important to all that.
Ten thousand years later, we find that organic is an impossible dream.
And Fairtrade may or may not work.
But value chains will make you free. Although that’s easier said than done.
And you have to be climate-smart to boot. Really, who’d be a farmer, in the Neolithic or now.

June 6, 2014June 6, 2014

Nibbles: Banana to SPC, Urban livestock, Ag & nutrition, Nutrition data, PPB, Brazil nut certification, Indian beer, Sheep genome

Banana germplasm gets around.
Kenyan urban cows get around. Not local breeds, though…
Can agriculture deliver both resilience and nutrition? FAO thinks so.
Yeah, about that: we’re gonna need better data.
Participatory varietal selection in Nepal. Not as novel as made out here, surely.
Brazil nut gets it all.
Today’s beer story comes from India.
Sorting the sheep from the goats, the molecular way.

May 30, 2014May 30, 2014

Nibbles: Wheat database, Livestock maps, Indian apple genebank, UC Davis strawberries, Cheese fungi postdoc, Fruit domestication, Brassica genome, Early hunting dogs, Threatened species numbers, Bolivia conservation

A Wheat Germplasm Database To Rule Them All. No, not from CGIAR.
New livestock maps of the world. Yes, from CGIAR.
Kashmir ponders an apple genebank.
More from Game of Strawberries.
Wanna study the population genomics of cheese fungi? Course you do.
Domesticating local fruit trees good for nutrition, but need secure tenure and good planting material.
Building better broccoli, the genome way.
Early domesticated dogs helped in mammoth hunts.
Current extinction rate about 1000 times higher than background. Databases can help with that, believe it or not.
Building a national PGRFA system in Bolivia. When will they ratify the ITPGRFA, though?