- Saving Dhofar’s frankincense tree. Evocative things they are too.
- The rich may have trouble getting into heaven, but they manage more agrobiodiversity. At least of rice. At least in Nepal.
- Gotta be careful with niche modeling in mountain areas. Well, duh.
- New Pacific food leaflets from SPC.
- Ok, how weird is it that I have a personal connection of sorts to all of the above? Probably not much.
- Ex situ not enough for wild rice. Say it ain’t so!
- The evolution of coffee.
- “If the rains do not fall we may face problems with certain crops.” Right.
- Network on natural fibres proposed by Industree Craft Foundation and the Commonwealth Secretariat. Sounds like fun.
- Screening lactic acid strains for sorghum beer making. Well, kinda. Somebody please fund this vital research!
Rice back in New Zealand
Another feel-good genebank story. Eric Vercoe, now 85, grew rice in the 60s in TePuke near Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty in the North Island of New Zealand. Alas, the project eventually came to a stop because of flooding problems, but there has been some interest recently in re-establishing the crop, using more modern technology, but the same variety. Called TePuke (gold), this had been developed in the area over 12 years from an original introduction from Japan. It grew very well, had good cooking quality and very good taste. Unfortunately, it was no longer anywhere to be found in New Zealand. So Mr Vercoe asked the IRRI genebank, where it turned out that a deposit of the variety had been made in 1965. He received seeds last summer, and rice is again being grown in the most southerly location for the crop that our friends at IRRI know of.
Stripe rust collection makes a move
Yes, fungi have genebanks too.
Blogging Niu Afa
Dr Roland Bourdeix is a senior researcher at CIRAD and an honorary research fellow at Bioversity International. He’s long worked on coconut genetic resources conservation and use, including at the Marc Delorme Research Station. He’s now in the South Pacific on a mission — in collaboration with my old pals at the Secretariat of the Pacific Community — to collect a famous Samoan coconut variety, and you can follow his progress on his new blog.
Nibbles: Drugs, Chains, Data, Year, Svalbard, Twitter, Laurel
- Opium gene decoded. Is that good?
- ILRI shares a bunch of presentations on value chains. Can’t be bad.
- Missouri Botanical Garden opens Center for Biodiversity Informatics. Will any good come of it?
- Agri scientists promote 2010 as biodiversity year. But that should have read Bioversity International. Bad.
- Wild edibles could hold key to protecting food supply? They mean wild relatives, of course. Very bad.
- More on our Twitter feed. You following us, right? Good!
- Beware the Ides of March! Laurel wreath bad for some.