Genetic diversity

November 30, 2013November 29, 2013

Rose Revolution

So one of the many new things I learned during my recent trip to India, and which I thought would make a nice piece here, was that Indian breeders are hard at work improving ornamental flowers in general, and the rose in particular. Now, as luck would have it, ICAR has just posted something about this on its Facebook page, so I don’t even need to think of anything clever to write about it. I love it when that happens.

November 29, 2013November 29, 2013

Nibbles: ICRISAT award, SIRGEALC awards, Food etymology, Black carrot, Bolivian potatoes, NASA weirdness, Mexican maize, Rice 2.0, Vaccinium

Dr Upadhyaya Goes to Tampa.
SIRGEALC participants get prizes too. Maybe one of them can tell us about it.
First uses of various food words.
Punjab Black Beauty set to take the carrot world by storm.
Bolivia conserves its potato relatives. When will it ratify the ITPGRFA and share the love?
NASA going to grow plants on the Moon. What could possibly go wrong.
Free trade apparently threatens maize and Mexican culture. I personally think both can take it. They’ve been going for a while.
You know, I just have no idea what this silly piece about rice in Africa is trying to tell me. Maybe you can figure it out and let me know.
Celebrating the cranberry.

November 26, 2013

Nibbles: Quinoa, Conference, Genebanks, Dietary diversity, Subsidies

Peruvian quinoa leaves Bolivia in the dust – so that’s good for Bolivians who want to eat the stuff, right?
At the forthcoming conference on Enhanced Genepool Utilization ‒ Capturing Wild Relative And Landrace Diversity For Crop Improvement “[a] book of abstracts will be provided on a flashdrive”. And here’s your jetpack …
Global Crop Diversity Trust speaks truth to power. Power replies: “Yeah, yeah, we know all that.”
Kids document traditional foodways of Kenya.
Do farm subsidies increase or decrease food prices? Yes.

November 25, 2013November 25, 2013

Brainfood: Cassava erosion, Chinese cereals, New banana, Olive collection, Chicken diversity, Selling nature, Japan sustainable ag & green tourism, Integrated drylands

Maintenance of Manioc Diversity by Traditional Farmers in the State of Mato Grosso, Brazil: A 20-Year Comparison. Overall diversity unchanged, but number of varieties per farmer down. Rare varieties now common, and vice versa.
On-farm conservation of 12 cereal crops among 15 ethnic groups in Yunnan (PR China). Higher income means fewer crops and fewer varieties. Remoteness and farm fragmentation work the other way.
Musa arunachalensis: a new species of Musa section Rhodochlamys (Musaceae) from Arunachal Pradesh, northeastern India. It never ends.
Identification of the Worldwide Olive Germplasm Bank of Córdoba (Spain) using SSR and morphological markers. 824 trees, 499 accessions, 332 cultivars, 200 authenticated.
Genetic characterization and conservation priorities of chicken lines. Lose 4 of 7 chicken lines derived from the Plymouth Rock breed and you only lose a maximum of 4% of total genetic diversity.
Conservation through Commodification? Well, maybe.
Review of Sustainable Agriculture: Promotion, Its Challenges and Opportunities in Japan. Gotta involve the farmers. Even in Japan.
Green Tourism in Japan: Opportunities for a GIAHS Pilot Site. Should probably be mashed up with the above. By someone other than me, though.
An integrated agro-ecosystem and livelihood systems approach for the poor and vulnerable in dry areas. Must integrate multi-disciplinarily along the entire impact pathway. Funny though how genetic resources, which arguably lie at the source of many of these, get so little mention.

November 22, 2013

Nibbles: Intensive livestock, Genetic erosion, Genetic diversity … in India, NUS, Domestication, Seminars, Nutrition, Prince of Wales

With sincere apologies for the lack of service. It’s just been that kind of week. For both of us.

“[H]ow a powerful and intransigent agriculture lobby has successfully fought off attempts to reduce the harmful environmental and health impacts of mass livestock production.” Say it isn’t so.
“[A] planet that has lost 75% of its plant genetic diversity between 1900 and 2000.” Mythbusters? FAO don’t need no stinkin’ mythbusters.
Here’s a little historical context for ya, on Seed Collection and Plant Genetic Diversity, 1900–1979
Striving to gain insights into agro-biodiversity through surveys in Bijapur, India will doubtless add, er, something.
Round up the usual NUSpects:
And the unusual: Alpine rice, aka Microlaena stiphoides, a newly domesticated grass down under.
You want more on domestication? AoB blog has you covered, with pointers to wheats and the artichoke cardoon nexus.
A little learning … Is a wonderful thing?
- Functional agrobiodiversity in North-West Europe: What does the future hold? 11 December, Brussels.
- Improving agriculture’s impact on under-nutrition: What do we know and what do we need to know? 27 November, London.
- EndingHunger Online University. Seriously, everyone’s an expert now.
Cynical, moi? Not compared to the guy who wrote Implausible results in human nutrition research. Definitely one to cut out, boil lightly, season, and eat.
Speaking of cynics, “The Prince of Wales writes passionately about the future of farming and the countryside in this week’s Country Life, which he has guest-edited on the occasion of his 65th birthday.”

You really can’t make this stuff up.