Genetic diversity

May 8, 2011May 6, 2011

Yes, why not, the oldest horse breed in the world

Quick, what’s the oldest horse breed still in existence? Well, apparently, it’s the Caspian or Māzandarān Horse, and remains have recently been found in a cemetery dating back to 3400 BCE. Perhaps I should find it hard to believe one can recognize a breed from a skeleton, but I choose to suspend any disbelief I may have, because I like the story.

The Caspian horse was thought to have disappeared into antiquity, until 1965 when the American wife of an Iranian aristocrat called Louise Firouz went on an expedition on horseback and discovered small horses in the Iranian mountainous regions south of the Caspian Sea.

It happens to be very genetically diverse, which may suggest survival of wild horses in a Holocene refugium. Will they try to extract ancient DNA from the skeleton? Gosh, I do hope so. Via.

May 6, 2011May 6, 2011

Nibbles: Red rice, Feed the Future, Heat, GM seed mixtures, Sorghum, Millet, Sturgeon, Vaccinium

Anissa makes a meal of red rice from Western China eco-museum.
Want to influence the US Feed the Future “global hunger and food security initiative”? Course you do.
Peak heat and maize yields in the US. Bear it in mind when you read today’s flurry of interest in a new study from David Lobell et al.
Seed mixtures not a good idea? Say it isn’t so!
$4 million to continue development of biofortified sorghum.
Cooking up a storm, millets edition.
They’ve outlasted the dinosaurs, but they still need help.
USDA gets blue in the face about blueberries.

May 3, 2011May 3, 2011

Nibbles: Fair mangoes, Rice domestication, Saline collections, Spice collections, Aquaculture, Salmon

Fair trade Haitian mangoes hit the shelves.
Molecular boffins use nifty new toys to re-write rice history. Until the next time.
The genebank of the International Centre for Biosaline Agriculture in Dubai has found material suitable for, ahem, saline agriculture.
The genebank of the Indian Institute of Spices Research in Calicut has a large collection of, ahem, spices.
The downside of tilapia.
And, speaking of fish, it’s not all bad news.

May 2, 2011May 2, 2011

Brainfood: Diet, Olives, Beef, Shade trees, Tree regeneration, Poverty, Weeds, Birds

Farming for balanced nutrition: an agricultural approach to addressing micronutrient deficiency among the vulnerable poor in Africa. Dietary diversity is a good idea for many reasons.
Cultivar characterization of Aegean olive oils with respect to their volatile compounds. Only two varieties, and they do differ.
Beef Authentication and Retrospective Dietary Verification Using Stable Isotope Ratio Analysis of Bovine Muscle and Tail Hair. Back40 has an explanation of why this is more important than all the certification schemes in the world.
Promoting native trees in shade coffee plantations of southern India: comparison of growth rates with the exotic Grevillea robusta. Some native species might be able to compete, more research needed.
Regeneration of Vitellaria paradoxa and Parkia biglobosa in a parkland in Southern Burkina Faso. Vitellaria doing better, possibly because farmers are overharvesting Parkia seeds.
Defining the poor by the rural communities of Burkina Faso: implications for the development of sustainable parkland management. It’s complicated.
Does soil biota benefit from organic farming in complex vs. simple landscapes? Organic farming increases weed diversity. No word on what it does for birds, but…
Species richness and composition of bird communities in various field margins of Poland. Some types of field margins are better than others. No word on what they do for weeds.

April 25, 2011April 25, 2011

Brainfood: Biotechnology, Pollinators, Mulberries, Rice blast, Locavores, Roselle, Cassava, Protected areas, Traditional vegetables, Vitis, European diversity

Agricultural biotechnology for crop improvement in a variable climate: hope or hype? Your guess is as good as mine.
Pollinator insects benefit from rotational fallows. They do indeed.
Biological and productive characteristics of silkworm mulberry varieties of different ploidy and their use for raising silkworms in different seasons. Amazing; more silk faster from polyploid mulberries.
Mapping quantitative trait loci conferring blast resistance in upland indica rice (Oryza sativa L.). They’re there.
Food relocalization for environmental sustainability in Cumbria. Fair enough, but what, actually, are the locavores going to eat?
Relationships among twelve genotypes of roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.) cultivated in western Mexico. Twelve genotypes split into two groups, could be important for breeding and production.
Variation in qualitative and quantitative traits of cassava germplasm from selected national breeding programmes in sub-Saharan Africa. There is some, but not for everything.
Global protected area impacts. There are some, but not everywhere.
Diversity, geographical, and consumption patterns of traditional vegetables in sociolinguistic communities in Benin: Implications for domestication and utilization. 245 species, only 19% cultivated, with big differences among ethnic groups and geographical areas. Research and promotion needs identified.
Observed trends in winegrape maturity in Australia. 1.7 days earlier per year for 1993–2009, 0.8 days earlier per year for 1985–2009.
Still a lot of diversity out there, Europe edition: common bean in Sicily, melons near Madrid.