Genetic diversity

January 31, 2018January 31, 2018

Illustrated guide to the landraces of Ecuador

The Field Museum’s 800-odd field guides cover a whole bunch of stuff, from the plants of the Araripe-Apodi National Park in Brazil to the bats of Mindanao. But I’m pretty sure there’s only one on landraces, and that covers Ecuador. It’s just out, and it includes photos of about a hundred traditional cereal, legume and root crop varieties.

January 31, 2018January 31, 2018

Nibbles: Wild wheat & rice genomes, Lost American crops, Bread Lab, Tea symposium, Burping cows, Australian botanist, Ecuadorian landrace pics, Red listing, Fermentation PhD, Cheese rind microbes, HRH reception

Goat grass genome to the rescue.
No, some other weedy grass genomes to the rescue!
Weeds could actually be lost crops.
Clif Bar endows Bread Lab.
Symposium on the future of tea. Mother-in-law alerted.
You’ll need milk for that tea: breeding cattle for more production and less burping.
Aunty Fran Bodkin: Australian botany hero.
Field Museum field guide to Ecuadorian landraces. Of all things.
Learn about red-listing.
Study the microbial communities of cabbage leaves.
Cheese rind has complex microbial communities too.
So, anyways, this was fun.

January 29, 2018January 22, 2018

Brainfood: Biodiversity trends, Banana viruses, Forest fragmentation, Apple cryo, NPGS, Brazilian goats, Turkish AnGR, Using agrobiodiversity, Genetic variation, Leaf rust loci, Leaf Doctor, Colombian cassava

Is local biodiversity declining or not? A summary of the debate over analysis of species richness time trends. Better data needed.
How endogenous plant pararetroviruses shed light on Musa evolution. Some banana plants have B genomes which are non-infective for potentially nasty viral integrants, making them good parents in breeding programmes.
Late Holocene forest contraction and fragmentation in central Africa. From one horse’s mouth: “…this fragmentation 2500 years ago allowed the migration of the Bantu through the forests, who were able to exploit pioneering trees, such as energy rich oil palms which had colonized the gaps created, as well as being able to cultivate for the first times cereals in this newly created agricultural zone, notably pearl millet.”
Cryobiotechnology of apple (Malus spp.): development, progress and future prospects. “…one of the most extensively studied plant genera with respect to cryopreservation.”
Sustaining the Future of Plant Breeding: The Critical Role of the USDA-ARS National Plant Germplasm System. The next level: gap filling, more phenotyping and genotyping, better info systems, more pre-breeding, improved training for using PGR in breeding programs, expanded outreach. Could say the same about the rest of the world too.
Role of Viral Diagnostics in Quarantine for Plant Genetic Resources and Preparedness. Calls for India to put in place a “National Plant Pests Diagnostic and Certification Network.” Maybe should be added to above.
Threatened Goat Breeds from the Tropics: The Impact of Crossbreeding with Foreign Goats. You need to be careful with it, Brazilians say.
Importance of native animal genetic resources. Turks too.
Editorial: Harvesting plant and microbial biodiversity for sustainably enhanced food security. A whole Research Topic, no less. No animals though…
Genotypic variability enhances the reproducibility of an ecological study. Because it buffers the effects of “environmental” differences in laboratory studies.
Unlocking new alleles for leaf rust resistance in the Vavilov wheat collection. 13 new loci, maybe.
Leaf Doctor: A New Portable Application for Quantifying Plant Disease Severity. Something to test the above with.
Household Determinants of the Adoption of Improved Cassava Varieties using DNA Fingerprinting to Identify Varieties in Farmer Fields: A Case Study in Colombia. 434 samples from 217 farmers reveals 120 varieties, 9 of which were improved; farmers overestimate their use of new varieties, but in general those with more dependents, more land, and more access to extension have more improved varieties.

January 26, 2018January 26, 2018

Nibbles: Sustainable wheat, Bananacoin, Tuscan agrobiodiversity, Fig conservation, Foraging beer, Wizard vs Prophet, SDGs, Harlan Symposium

General Mills goes all sustainable. But the genebanks?
The future of bananas is banana futures. But the genebanks?
Agrobiodiversity in Tuscany: The App. Who needs genebanks.
“Correia, a 59-year-old third-generation Delta resident, has one of the most diverse collections of the common fig, Ficus carica, in the world.” Put that in an app.
The two approaches to feeding 10 billion people. Only two?
“Eradicating hunger and ensuring food security is a bottom-line requirement for achieving sustainable development and well-being.” Problem is, it’s not the top priority.
Otherwise orphan crops wouldn’t be orphans.
Foraged beer is a thing. A very cool thing, and you can probably use orphan crops too.
A place to discuss all of the above? The Third Jack R. Harlan International Symposium.

January 25, 2018January 25, 2018

Nibbles: Sequencing Davos, WPC 2018, German spuds, Martha’s Excellent Adventure, C4F video, Hawaiian varieties, Seed Book

Blockchain for ABS touted at Davos. The Economist is there.
But will it be at the World Potato Congress? I’m betting no.
But for sure some Germans will be.
Martha Stewart will be in Svalbard.
Crops for the Future was On the Menu.
Culinary Breeding Network is in Hawaii. Lucky them. But would it have killed them to provide a link?
I want to be in Lebanon.
There are a lot of pretty seeds in Paul Smith’s new book.