- A distinctly US flavour to Nibbles today, for some reason.
- A map of every goat in the US. Texas is the goat hotspot.
- Not there with dogs yet, but at least we now know when they arrived.
- How about sheep, though?
- Interestingly, there are more wineries than breweries in Texas.
- Saving the winegrape, molecule by molecule. Including in Texas?
- Saving Southern cooking, seed by seed. You remember that peanut thing from yesterday?
- But Pennsylvania cooking?
- How about Cherokee cooking?
NENA genebanks get online
Great to see the Regional Plant Genetic Resources Network for the Near East and North Africa get online with such a rich panoply of resources, including a full range of social media outlets. We’ll be keeping an eye on it. In particular, it will be good to see genebank data on the website in due course, perhaps via Genesys.
Nibbles: Domesticating grasses, Svalbard, Explaining genebanks, Australian edibles, Carolina African Runner, Whale ball beer
- Grasses with bigger seeds and fewer stems make better crops.
- Genebanks are just the start.
- Wait, what’s a genebank?
- How much bush tucker is in genebanks anyway?
- Bringing back the Southern peanut.
- Smoked whale testicle beer for you, sir?
DivSeek, and more, at PAGXXXIII
Yes, we’re back. Kinda. Sorta. And the new year means PAG, XXIII of that ilk. Which you can follow on Twitter, of course, and various other ways no doubt. The meeting was preceded this year by a separate event launching the DivSeek initiative, which got a lot of media attention. Oh, and which has its own Twitter account now too.
Susan McCouch, newly elected Chair of Steering Committee addresses @DivSeek Partners' Assembly http://t.co/roZ2wG73CQ pic.twitter.com/KzmOtiZ0mR
— DivSeek (@DivSeek) January 10, 2015
Brainfood: Teak origins, Rice diversity, Urban ag, Mapping anthropogenic pressure, Fungal divesity, Bitter cucumber
- Genetic resources of teak (Tectona grandis Linn. f.)—strong genetic structure among natural populations. Centre of diversity in semi-moist eastern coast of India and in Myanmar.
- Analysis of Genetic Diversity and Population Structure of Rice Germplasm from North-Eastern Region of India and Development of a Core Germplasm Set. 10% of 7000 very diverse accessions recovers 99.9% of allelic diversity.
- Global assessment of urban and peri-urban agriculture: irrigated and rainfed croplands. Urban croplands represent 6% of total. No word on what percentage of genetic diversity, but I bet more than 6%.
- Satellite Earth observation data to identify anthropogenic pressures in selected protected areas. Some data can be used to identify some pressures.
- Global diversity and geography of soil fungi. Climatic factors are key, but look at the diagram.
- Biosynthesis, regulation, and domestication of bitterness in cucumber. So that Dutch breeder, who Jeremy always mentions, who once tasted 10,000 cucumber cotyledons in his quest to breed a nice-tasting one, would not have to do so now. Which is a pity.