- The risks of success in quality vegetable markets: Possible genetic erosion in Marmande tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum L.) and consumer dissatisfaction. Market takes the fun out of landraces.
- Genetic variability of root peel thickness and its influence in extractable starch from cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) roots. Starch content depends on dry matter content and peel thickness. About 1500 accessions from CIAT evaluated for the latter, so lots to play around with.
- A meta-analysis of crop pest and natural enemy response to landscape complexity. More landscape complexity means more natural enemies. Still no cure for cancer.
- American Chestnut past and future: Implications of restoration for resource pulses and consumer populations of eastern U.S. forests. Reintroduction of blight-resistant chestnut may have some weird effects on other species.
- Keep collecting: accurate species distribution modelling requires more collections than previously thought. Oh damn.
- Variation in seed dormancy quantitative trait loci in Arabidopsis thaliana originating from one site. Is due to two QTLs. Also flowering time. But no, I don’t understand that “In contrast…” at the end of the abstract either.
- Tracking origins of invasive herbivores through herbaria and archival DNA: the case of the horse-chestnut leaf miner. Another use for old herbarium specimens: finding evidence of pests.
- Animal breeding in India – a time for reflection, and action. The reflection is that genetic improvement has stagnated, so the action needed includes better phenotypic record keeping, more attention to local diversity and community-breeding programmes.
- Performance of micropropagation-induced off-type of East African highland banana (Musa AAA – East Africa). A promising avenue for improvement, the off-types yield more better bananas, a month later.
- Pollination services in the UK: How important are honeybees? Not as important as you might think!
- The same regulatory point mutation changed seed-dispersal structures in evolution and domestication. Cabbage-family fruit development and rice shattering share the same single point mutation.
- Participatory research and on-farm management of agricultural biodiversity in Europe. By Michel “Pimpert”. That should be Pimbert. Old news, but worth mentioning.
Vavilov on the Beeb
If you were intrigued by news of a BBC series on the history of botany, but could not see it because you don’t live in the UK, fear not, Jeremy has snipped out the bit about Vavilov that appeared in the third programme, which was all about crop breeding.
Nibbles: IRRI genebank, Andeans, Satoyama, Forestry fellowship
- IRRI explains its rice genebank. Is this new? Why are so many pages on the internets undated?
- Owen takes his Andean roots and tubers to another county. NatGeo not interested.
- FAO recognizes two Satoyama sites as Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems, making eight in total.
- Sub-Saharan Foresty Funding from the 2011 Abdou-Salam Ouédraogo fellowship.
Nibbles: Pullman, Global Plant Conservation, Germination
- The USDA’s Pullman genebank gets a nice write-up.
- Live from The Missouri Botanical Garden and The Global Partnership for Plant Conservation conference. Crop wild relatives mentioned…
- Hints of a role for growth regulators in germination of recalcitrant seeds.
An online home for sweet potato information
There’s a new online Sweetpotato Knowledge Portal. Lots of stuff on germaplasm conservation, breeding, seed systems, value addition etc. It really does look quite interesting, but, frustratingly, I have no idea who’s behind it. Institutionally, that is. There’s not a logo in sight anywhere. Seems to be driven by sweetpotato researchers themselves, many, but by no means all, at CIP. I shall be watching it closely, via its RSS feed.
