- Special Issue “Role of Plant Tissue Culture in Agricultural Research and Production.” Deadline: 15 September. This year, I imagine.
- Kenya decolonizing it’s pulse sector.
- And it may be visible from space.
- Somebody mention space? Microsoft is way ahead of you.
- CIAT’s genebank working through lockdown, denies Phaseolus is colonial.
- How about soya then? That’s pretty colonial, surely? Ah, but faba is the new soya. Census takers unavailable for comment.
- Speaking of CIAT and its genebank, the rise and rise of cassava in Asia. And Nigeria? Let the neo-colonialism discourse begin.
- Re-wilding is not colonialism, is it?
- You can grow your lemons underground if it’s cold. Or just for the hell of it, frankly, because why not? Oh, yeah, there’s also breeding.
- Booze goes green. But not so green as to support genebanks.
Nibbles: Native American seeds, Peasant’s Struggle, IWYP, Taxonomy booklet, Phylogenetics booklet, Lost apples, Yak threat, Online mapping, Sampling strategy
- Native Americans are coping with a coronavirus-caused food shortage by seed saving. Among other things.
- On the International Day of Peasant’s Struggle, even.
- IWYP science brief on using wheat wild relatives in breeding.
- Really nice Meise Botanic Garden publication on botanical nomenclature.
- And to complement the above: Phylogenetics in the Genomic Era.
- More old apples found. I’m beginning to think the whole lost apples thing is a scam.
- But losing yaks is a definite possibility.
- Nature Map Explorer is online. Rejoice.
- Sean Hoban on calculating how much to collect and conserve. Without using the above.
Nibbles: Joy of seeds, CC risk map, Community seed banks, Genebanks
- Yes, what does make seeds so incredible?
- Biodiversity risk from climate change: the interactive online map.
- Community seed banks for farmers’ rights. And not only.
- Genebanks in a time of coronavirus.
- SPC genebank is trying to deal with COVID-19.
- The USDA genebank at Ft Collins soldiers on.
Brainfood: PFM, Endemic diversity, VAM, Food systems, Forages, Ganja taxonomy, Maize phenomics, Yield maps, Cassava breeding, Diversification, Distributions
- The illusion of participatory forest management success in nature conservation. Success is in the eye of the beholder.
- Back to the future of a rare plant species of the Chihuahuan desert: tracing distribution patterns across time and genetic diversity as a basis for conservation actions. A combination of genetic analysis and niche modelling shows that population structure is due to habitat, not geography.
- High‐throughput phenotyping reveals growth of Medicago truncatula is positively affected by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi even at high soil phosphorus availability. And affected differently during the course of plant growth.
- Global drivers of food system (un)sustainability: A multi-country correlation analysis. Most drivers are driving sustainability in the wrong direction.
- Progress and Challenges in Ex Situ Conservation of Forage Germplasm: Grasses, Herbaceous Legumes and Fodder Trees. Highly palatable leguminous woody species tick a lot of boxes. We know what to do. Let’s do it.
- A classification of endangered high-THC cannabis (Cannabis sativa subsp. indica) domesticates and their wild relatives. One subspecies, 4 botanical varieties? Well, that’s like your opinion, man.
- Phenomic selection and prediction of maize grain yield from near‐infrared reflectance spectroscopy of kernels. Yeah, but can you do it in the field?
- Global dataset of historical yields v1.2 and v1.3 aligned version. For maize, rice, wheat and soybean, for the period 1981-2016. No NIRS in sight.
- Cassava breeding and agronomy in Asia: 50 years of history and future directions. 50% yield increase in 20 years. Is that good?
- Decision-Making to Diversify Farm Systems for Climate Change Adaptation. Define goals, assess enabling & disabling factors, quantify risks, look for gaps in functional diversity, pick some interventions, evaluate & learn.
- Connecting species’ geographical distributions to environmental variables: range maps versus observed points of occurrence. Points are better than polygons.
Brainfood: Bull, Durum, W2Px2, Urban hort, Maya ag, Nepal PGR, Bean GWAS, Pig landrace, DSI
- Reconstitution and modernization of lost Holstein male lineages using samples from a gene bank. Because all today’s bulls tracing back to exactly 2 born in the late 1880s is really not a very good thing.
- Comparative population genomic analyses of the reconstructed local breed “Nero di Parma” with other commercial and autochthonous Italian pig breeds. I like the idea of reconstructing a breed, but this one needs some more work or it will end up as the above.
- Durum wheat in the Mediterranean Rim: historical evolution and genetic resources. What have the Romans ever done for us? Well…
- Drinking biodiversity: a choice experiment on Franciacorta sparkling wines. Willingness to pay for biodiversity friendliness of high value products has its limits.
- Benefits of conserving agricultural genetic resources in Finland: Summary of the recent Finnish research and setting it in the international context. Still, there is some willingness to pay.
- The hidden potential of urban horticulture. Yes, even in Sheffield.
- Maize Politics and Maya Farmers’ Traditional Ecological Knowledge in Yucatán, 1450–1600. The sustainability of milpa depends on politics. ‘Twas ever thus.
- Genomics-assisted breeding for pigeonpea improvement. How do you know when you have enough genomics data?
- Agrobiodiversity and its Conservation in Nepal. 25,000 accessions around the world. But are they enough?
- Genetic Associations in Four Decades of Multi-environment Trials Reveal Agronomic Trait Evolution in Common Bean. 2 large genomic regions have been ruthlessly selected in relentless pursuit of the ideotype. Doesn’t sound like enough.
- Implications of biological information digitization: Access and benefit sharing of plant genetic resources. “The solution lies in an international institution stepping forward, with a bold vision and strong mandate, capable of resolution.” Good luck with that.