Genetic diversity

May 16, 2018May 16, 2018

Rice opportunities redux

The week that the world’s greatest rice research resource is published also sees the opening of the position running the world’s greatest rice genebank. Coincidence?

LATER: A slightly amended description for the IRRI genebank job is out, and the deadline has been extended. You’re still in with a chance.

May 14, 2018May 14, 2018

Brainfood: Spanish livestock, IPK forage & wheat, USDA soybean diversity, NERICA/ARICA, Nagoya, Intensification, Greek lentil, Zulu sheep, Kola vs cocoa, African rice farming, Wild foods

Human and ecological determinants of the spatial structure of local breed diversity. The closer Spanish provinces are in demography, ecology, history and geography, the more similar in their livestock breeds.
Enhancing the Sustainable Use of Lolium perenne Genetic Resources from Genebanks in Plant Breeding and Research. The importance of international collaboration illustrated yet again. Material best at different things comes from different countries.
Leveraging the use of historical data gathered during seed regeneration of an ex situ genebank collection of wheat. Accessions should be regenerated at random. From same genebank as above.
Population and quantitative genomic properties of the USDA soybean germplasm collection. 8 major clusters.
Assessment of Genetic Variation and Population Structure of Diverse Rice Genotypes Adapted to Lowland and Upland Ecologies in Africa Using SNPs. Lowland NERICA close to indica, highland NERICA close to japonica.
Do You Conduct International Research? What You Need to Know About Access, Benefit‐Sharing, and the Nagoya Protocol. Quite a lot.
Pasture intensification is insufficient to relieve pressure on conservation priority areas in open agricultural markets. Intensification relieves pressure on land in Africa, but not in Latin America, where it stimulates increased trade.
Genetic diversity analysis of the Greek lentil (Lens culinaris) landrace ‘Eglouvis’ using morphological and molecular markers. 400 years old, quite distinct, and with some variation.
Genetic structure of South African Nguni (Zulu) sheep populations reveals admixture with exotic breeds. Quite variable and not much inbreeding, but gotta watch out the admixture with exotics.
Is kola Tree the Enemy of Cocoa? A Critical Analysis of Agroforestry Recommendations Made to Ivorian Cocoa Farmers. No, but you wouldn’t think it from Big Chocolate recommendations.
‘The Tides Rhyme with the Moon’: The Impacts of Knowledge Transmission and Strong Spring Tides on Rice Farming in Guinea-Bissau. The youth resist.
Wild Foods: Safety Net or Poverty Trap? A South African Case Study. Depends on the season.

May 8, 2018May 8, 2018

Nibbles: Cloisters, Plum breeding, Wild tomatoes, Phytosanitary regulations, Public breeding, EU regulations, Svalbard @10, Local grains, Chips, ICRAF double

Medieval monastery gardens deconstructed.
Burbank’s plums decoded.
The wild tomatoes of the Galapagos evaluated.
Germplasm exchange expedited.
Public sector plant breeding advocated.
Farmer-saved seeds saved?
Svalbard Global Seed Vault celebrated.
Local flour milled.
Potato chips (crisps) invented.
Indigenous trees taken seriously. Very seriously.

May 7, 2018May 7, 2018

Brainfood: Genebanks genomics, Improving forages, 3000 rices, Sweet potato dispersal, Diversity on farm double, Herbaria double, Phenotyping box, Invasives, Meta-meta-analysis, Rice domestication, Soil depth

Role of genomics in promoting the utilization of plant genetic resources in genebanks. Genebanks don’t need to do genomics themselves to benefit from genomics.
Improving the Yield and Nutritional Quality of Forage Crops. Case in point.
Genomic variation in 3,010 diverse accessions of Asian cultivated rice. Case in point. Multiple independent domestications. Tomorrow, the world.
Sweet potato dispersal or human transport? Maybe no evidence one way or another after all. Rebuttal of: Reconciling Conflicting Phylogenies in the Origin of Sweet Potato and Dispersal to Polynesia. And the counter to the rebuttal. This genomics stuff not so easy after all.
Review: Meta-analysis of the association between production diversity, diets, and nutrition in smallholder farm households. It’s not always there. But that would have been a high bar.
Agricultural diversification as an important strategy for achieving food security in Africa. Case in point. More diverse households and farming systems are more food secure, but only up to a point, and it depends on various factors. 43% of African cropland will be difficult to diversify.
Using herbaria to study global environmental change. Have been used to monitor the effects of climate change, habitat change, pollution and invasives on plants.
Green Digitization: Online Botanical Collections Data Answering Real‐World Questions. Gotta get the stuff digitized first though.
The ‘PhenoBox’, a flexible, automated, open‐source plant phenotyping solution. Somebody mention digitizing?
Dissecting the null model for biological invasions: A meta-analysis of the propagule pressure effect. The success of aliens is down to their numbers. Wonder if it works for pest and disease organisms too.
Are systematic reviews and meta-analyses still useful research? We are not sure. All righty then. Scrap the above.
Shattering or not shattering: that is the question in domestication of rice (Oryza sativa L.). From one of the authors, Debarati Chakraborty: Loss of shattering through sh4 is not a crucial step for rice domestication. Genetics, cultural anthropology and archaeology suggests that primitive agrarians were dependent on wild or semi-domesticated shattering rice.
Rooting for food security in Sub-Saharan Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa probably hasn’t the rootable soil depth for monster maize yields.

May 1, 2018April 30, 2018

Nibbles: Garlic history, Collecting, GMO course, Rice genebank, Mango diversity, Chilli diversity, Virtual plant breeding, Navel orange, LA tree, Cotton sustainability, Saudi agritourism

Trying to promote a “poor person’s crop”? Try the garlic trick, ennobling.
A Reference Manual for Expedition Plant Collectors, courtesy of the The Arnold Arboretum.
Cornell runs a MOOC on GMOs. How about one on genebanks, eh?
Maharashtra could maybe use it.
You can never have too many mangoes.
Or dried chillies.
Next generation plant breeding.
Riverside protects its famous citrus tree.
But not all famous California trees are so lucky.
Making cotton sustainable. Hard row to hoe.
Saudi farm tourism. Even harder.