Fruits and nuts

July 20, 2021July 19, 2021

Apple domestication visualized

The chapter on the Origin of the Domesticated Apples in the recent book on The Apple Genome has a really useful diagram which I hope I won’t get into trouble for reproducing here.

That really is worth a thousand words and more. Wish we had similar ones for all crops.

July 20, 2021July 19, 2021

Nibbles: Trees & poverty, Climate change myths, Trees & landscapes, Trees in the pandemic, Community genebanks

How trees can alleviate poverty.
How trees can help fight climate change. And how they cannot.
How trees can contribute to diverse sustainable landscapes.
How wild fruit trees (among other things) helped in the Covid-19 crisis.
Not entirely sure if there are any trees among the burgeoning community seedbanks of China.

July 19, 2021July 6, 2021

Brainfood: Plant services, Ornamental conservation, Cinnamon, Avocado, Apricot double, Apple, Date palm, Bambara groundnut, Amaranth, On farm research, Fertilizer subsidies

A global database of plant services for humankind. 13% of over 13,000 plant genera have been recorded as human food. But twice as many are described as “ornamentals.”
Horticultural plant use as a so-far neglected pillar of ex situ conservation. Something we can do about those ornamentals. But not only ornamentals, surely.
“Ceylon cinnamon”: Much more than just a spice. But not, alas, an ornamental.
Exploring genetic diversity of lowland avocado (Persea americana Mill.) as a genetic reservoir for breeding. Plus it’s a handsome tree.
Population genomics of apricots unravels domestication history and adaptive events. Separate Chinese and European genepools, deriving from independent domestications from distinct populations. No word on which is more ornamental.
Diversity and Relationships among Neglected Apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.) Landraces Using Morphological Traits and SSR Markers: Implications for Agro-Biodiversity Conservation. Get farmers to grow varietal mixtures for maximum ornamental value — and conservation.
Unraveling a genetic roadmap for improved taste in the domesticated apple. No evidence of selection for increased sugar content. And ornamental value?
Molecular clocks and archaeogenomics of a Late Period Egyptian date palm leaf reveal introgression from wild relatives and add timestamps on the domestication. Ancient hybrid origin for the coincidentally ornamentally and otherwise valuable food crop, followed by introgression from both wild close congeneric relatives.
Genetic diversity and population structure analysis of bambara groundnut (Vigna subterrenea L) landraces using DArT SNP markers. 3 groups: W Africa, Central Africa, E + S Africa. No word on which would make the most attractive ornamentals.
A chromosome-level Amaranthus cruentus genome assembly highlights gene family evolution and biosynthetic gene clusters that may underpin the nutritional value of this traditional crop. Yeah, but where are the genes that make it ornamental too?
How accurate are yield estimates from crop cuts? Evidence from smallholder maize farms in Ethiopia. More accurate than estimates of horticultural attractiveness, I suspect.
The unintended consequences of the fertilizer subsidy program on crop species diversity in Mali. Spoiler alert: they’re bad. Fortunately, ornamentals don’t attract subsidies.

July 13, 2021July 12, 2021

Nibbles: Payment for services, Spud pix, Botanical paintings, Local food, Wild Malus

Paying for the conservation of quinoa varieties.
Not sure I’d pay for some of these potato photos.
Would definitely pay for some of these botanical illustrations.
Local food pays, just not necessarily in emissions.
Why it pays to save wild apples despite the fact that they taste like crap.

July 12, 2021June 30, 2021

Brainfood: Food groups, Fruit & nutrition, Cereal micronutrients, Sorghum mini core, Aquaculture, Perennial sunflower, Hybrid potato, Phenotyping, Spanish Neolithic

GAIN Discussion Paper 9: Food group diversity and nutrient adequacy. Eat a diverse diet…
Can Underutilized Tropical Fruits Meet the Nutritional Requirements of Rural Indonesia? …which includes fruits, of course.
The nutritional quality of cereals varies geospatially in Ethiopia and Malawi. And cereals, though it depends where they’re growing.
Variation for Photoperiod and Temperature Sensitivity in the Global Mini Core Collection of Sorghum. Less than 10% are sensitive to neither. And yes, there’s another paper on the nutrient quality of the same subset. Though not on how that varies geographically.
Habitat value of bivalve shellfish and seaweed aquaculture for fish and invertebrates: Pathways, synthesis and next steps. Eat more bivalves and seaweed too, it can be good for the environment too.
Measurements of lethal and nonlethal inbreeding depression inform the de novo domestication of Silphium integrifolium. Always good to have a new oil crop, especially a perennial one, but careful what you cross to get it, and how.
Genome design of hybrid potato. Re-inventing the potato as a seed-propagated crop could be good for nutrition, sure, why not.
High Throughput can produce better decisions than high accuracy when phenotyping plant populations. As you make better and more nutritious crops, keep in mind it may be better to phenotype more plants in more environments than obsess about accuracy and precision. What does that mean for mini-cores?
Insight into the introduction of domestic cattle and the process of Neolithization to the Spanish region Galicia by genetic evidence. But is any of this worth the hassle? After all, the early domesticated cattle of Galicia are similar to modern breeds…