- Plant genetic resources collections and associated information as a baseline resource for genetic diversity studies: an assessment of the IBPGR-supported collections. 35% of 200,000 accessions collected by IBPGR from 1975-95 still in a genebank somewhere.
- Genetic diversity among germplasms of Diospyros kaki based on SSR markers. Chinese non-astringent types closer to Chinese astringent types than to Japanese non-astringent types.
- Ex Post Use Restriction and Benefit-sharing Provisions for Access to Non-plant Genetic Materials for Public Research. Up-front payments can be ok.
- On Farm Conservation of Crop Genetic Resource: Declining De Facto Diversity and Optimal Funding Strategy. Fancy maths tells us to identify the landraces most likely to go extinct, and the farmers who can conserve them most cheaply.
- Current situation of wild Solanum spp. L. sect. Petota (Solanum, Solanaceae) in some Colombian regions. Not great.
- Identification of a diverse mini-core panel of Indian rice germplasm based on genotyping using micro satellite markers. Mini-core of 98 accessions based on molecular data recovers 94% of alleles in geographically-selected core of 6912 accessions from Indian collection. No word on how good the 6912 are in the first place.
- Genomic analyses reveal potential independent adaptation to high altitude in Tibetan chickens. Tibetan chickens fall into 2 groups, both with signs of selection in several genes involved in the calcium-signalling pathway implicated in adaptation to the hypoxia experienced at high altitudes.
- Antioxidant properties of lingonberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea L.) leaves within a set of wild clones and cultivars. The wilds are better for you.
- Knowledge Sharing Strategies on Traditional vegetables for Supporting Food Security in Kilosa District, Tanzania. Farmers talk about vegetables. Well there’s a shocker.
- Variability of candidate genes, genetic structure and association with sugar accumulation and climacteric behavior in a broad germplasm collection of melon (Cucumis melo L.). 175 melons from 50 countries fall into 7 groups, fitting well with morphology and taxonomy. Ripening genes associated with diversification.
- Genetic diversity analysis of Moroccan lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) landraces using Simple Sequence Repeat and Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphisms reveals functional adaptation towards agro-environmental origins. Evidence of combination of functional and geographic groupings.
- Genetic Diversity of Grasspea and Its Relative Species Revealed by SSR Markers. Asian landraces different to those from Africa/Europe. And all different from the wilds.
- Quinoa and the exchange of genetic resources: improving the regulation system. Quinoa for Annex 1?
Nibbles: Old pretzel, Wine podcast, Nordic podcast, Tea history, Pacific pests app, Eating bugs, Chicken history, African superfoods, Gender, Access to seeds, Sorghum beer, Making mead, Cumin, Bolivian school meals, MLN, Hidden hunger conference, CIP & IK, Potato Park, CIP’s Sawyer, Saving wheat, Resettlement, Sustainable cacao, Deforestation map, Language map
Again, sorry for slow blogging last week. Work, you know. Here we play catch-up.
- While we were away, we reached 6000 Twitter followers! Thanks, everyone!
- And Germans found a 250-year-old pretzel. Wait, you can get those at Kamps every day though. (Bonn inside joke.)
- Oh, and Jeremy talked to a wine expert about how to become a wine expert.
- But he has competition from the Nordic Food Lab now. What are you waiting for, subscribe to both!
- Since we’re on podcasts, Laszlo Montgomery’s monumental ten-part blockbuster on the history of tea in China recently came to a close.
- Talking of iTunes, ver. 2 of the Pacific Pest and Pathogens app is out.
- Don’t want to get into the whole eating insects thing? Feed them to your chickens instead.
- There’s even an infographic about that now.
- But what will it do to the poor old chicken?
- Cooking up some African superfoods. No insects (or chickens) were harmed in the making of this article.
- Yeah but who will be doing the cooking?
- And where to get the seeds? Maybe African Seed Access Index will help, though I somehow doubt it. At least for baobab.
- Oh well, there’s always beer I guess. (Though even that you can’t take for granted these days.)
- Or mead, at a pinch.
- I bet the Sumerians put a pinch of cumin in their beer. And mead.
- What about Latin America superfoods, though? Bolivians put them in their school meals, that’s what.
- Maize was a Latin American superfood once. Having trouble in Africa now, though.
- Wait, what, there was a 2nd International Congress on Hidden Hunger at the University of Hohenheim last week? And all I got was this t-shirt? Any superfoods on the menu there, I wonder?
- CIP on how it deals with traditional knowledge.
- For example at the Potato Park. Where I’ll be next week, incidentally. Stay tuned… But again, I rather fear that blogging will be on the light side next week.
- CIP has come a long way since its first DG, Dr Richard L. Sawyer, who sadly just passed away.
- Modelling the effects of climate change on wheat. Again. Can never have enough data. Anyway, wild relatives the answer?
- Mongolian nomads settle down. And not in a good way.
- There’s more to sustainable cacao than productivity. Fortunately, some people are on that. Meanwhile, at the other end of the poverty spectrum…
- Don’t think I’ve ever seen a nerdy interactive map like Global Forest Watch go mainstream. Hope for us all. Mash it up with this next?
Nibbles: Citrus disease, Forests & women, Green Revolution trifecta, Lost apples, PNG & ITPGRFA, Leafy greens, Cassava development, Maize evolution vid
- Getting to grips with citrus greening.
- The fabulous church forests of Ethiopia. But are women involved?
- Three articles on why the African Green Revolution won’t be like the Asian one.
- Whatever happened to the Esopus Spitzenburg?
- Papua New Guinea ratifies the ITPGRFA.
- African indigenous vegetables for development. Hey, I’m doing my part.
- Cassava is naturally climate-smart, but yields still not rising fast enough.
- Great video on the origin of maize.
Nibbles: Wine & CC, Native American food, Olives in Crete & Palestine, Adopt-an-Alpine-Cow, Landscape terms, Gates investments, African smallholder advice
- Grape-ocalypse now.
- Take the Healthy Roots Indigenous Wellness Challenge.
- A Kickstarter to map Crete’s ancient olive trees. And why not? Maybe Palestine next?
- Different sort of crowdfunding for Italian cheese.
- Please, sir, what’s a ujleer.
- Gates Foundation throws Big Fast Food under the bus.
- African smallholders told to diversify. Like they don’t know already.
- African smallholders told to link up with markets. African smallholders tired of getting advice.
Brainfood: Identifying accessions, Evaluating yeasts, Using CWR, Wild grapes, Bushmeat and nutrition, Rice evaluation, Tomato characterization, Sugarcane CWR, Nordic livestock, Conservation optimization, Moringa development, Albanian olives
- High-throughput genotyping for species identification and diversity assessment in germplasm collections.. 9% of random Brassicaceae samples from Australian Grains Genebank misidentified to species, with some interspecific hybrids.
- Methodology for enabling high-throughput simultaneous saccharification and fermentation screening of yeast using solid biomass as a substrate. Everything is now, now, now these days.
- Utilization of wild relatives of wheat, barley, maize and oat in developing abiotic and biotic stress tolerant new varieties. Useful summary table at the end.
- Patterns of SNP distribution provide a molecular basis for high genetic diversity and genetic differentiation in Vitis species. Different grape species are really different.
- Disentangling the relative effects of bushmeat availability on human nutrition in central Africa. Both rational use of some wild mammals for nutrition, and conservation of more vulnerable species, are possible, though in different places.
- Blast Resistant Genes Distribution and Resistance Reaction to Blast in Korean Landraces of Rice (Oryza sativa L.). Conventional evaluation of landraces is useless; you really need to look at the genes.
- Characterization of a collection of local varieties of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) using conventional descriptors and the high-throughput phenomics tool Tomato Analyzer. Brave new world.
- Phylogenetic analysis of Saccharum s.l. (Poaceae; Andropogoneae), with emphasis on the circumscription of the South American species. Allopolyploid, with 2 species belonging in a different genus.
- Utilization of farm animal genetic resources in a changing agro-ecological environment in the Nordic countries. Need to phenotype and genotype everything. Now where have I heard that before?
- Multi-objective optimization for plant germplasm collection conservation of genetic resources based on molecular variability. Lots of data plus fancy maths can tell you which individuals you should add to an ex situ collection to maximize conserved diversity.
- Actual and Potential Applications of Moringa stenopetala, Underutilized Indigenous Vegetable of Southern Ethiopia: A Review. Potential as a source of drugs, but you need to learn to grow it.
- Olive in the story and art in Albania. There are old olive trees around castles.