In situ

August 5, 2020August 4, 2020

Questionnaire on seed conservation and security

Do you conserve crop diversity or contribute to seed security at the local or national levels? If so, the DIVERSIFARM project would like to hear from you.

The questionnaire survey is carried out as part of the research project Pathways to food security, poverty alleviation and livelihoods through the implementation of farmers rights to crop genetic diversity (DIVERSIFARM), carried out by the Fridtjof Nansen Institute, Norway, in collaboration with University of Cape Town, South Africa; Mekelle University, Ethiopia; The Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT; German Institute for Tropical and Subtropical Agriculture; and Norwegian University of Life Sciences. Following this survey, further research and case-studies will be carried out, with the ultimate goal of identifying a roadmap to scale up successful models.

Please complete, and pass on…

August 4, 2020August 4, 2020

Nibbles: UN training, Genebanks double, CG spatial data, Fruit IPR, Citrus greening, Sikkim diversity, Bulgarian lavender, Biogenetic Paradoxes, Heroin, Palestinian eggplant

Training courses on multilateral environmental agreements, including CBD and Plant Treaty.
CGIAR dashboard on the Genebank Platform. More data here.
Some of the above are included in this list of the world’s most high profile genebanks.
The latest spatial crop data from CGIAR. Useful for genebanks, among other things.
Protecting fruit intellectual property. Wait, that didn’t come out right.
I guess this fruit is next.
Sikkim’s agricultural diversity as colours on a palette.
Lavender is a nice colour, whether in France or Bulgaria.
Book on nation-building through agricultural biodiversity. Bulgarians unavailable for comment.
Poppy diversity being helped by solar panels to build something or other in Afghanistan.
Palestinian paean to the bitinjan. Jeremy goes to town on it in his latest newsletter.

July 28, 2020July 28, 2020

Nibbles: Data storage, CG reform, Tequila, Seed saving trifecta, ROI, Jeremy

A Svalbard for data, in Svalbard.
IPES-Food critiques OneCGIAR as being insufficiently decentralized, context-specific, agroecological, and power-equitable.
Tequila FAQ. Probably need a shot after the above.
Seed saving made easy; maybe too easy.
The above, applied, in the Pacific.
The above, applied, everywhere.
The ROI of conservation. In situ only, alas.
Jeremy’s latest newsletter: Brazilian agribusiness, boycotts & slavery, cashew boom, peanut crash, Jay Rayner’s suggestions. Do subscribe.

July 27, 2020July 27, 2020

In situ conservation practitioners in Europe getting serious

The latest from the Farmer’s Pride project, which as you may remember focuses on the in situ conservation of landraces and crop wild relatives in Europe:

“This tool is for landrace maintainers or those considering the cultivation of landraces to diversify their crop production system. It provides access to evidence-based information on the benefits, opportunities and practices of landrace cultivation to help in decision-making and to promote their in situ maintenance as a means of conserving and diversifying plant genetic resources for food, nutrition and livelihood security.”
“Are you taking care of plant diversity in situ (in cultivation and in the wild) and interested in joining forces to support future food security?” Yes? Then please take this survey.

Stay up to date by subscribing to their newsletter.

July 27, 2020July 14, 2020

Brainfood: Bacterial contamination, Yam diversity, Multi-parent pops, Small millets breeding, Plural valuation, Seed conservation, Transition, Wild spuds, Enset conservation, Cassava viruses, Maize stemborer, Rice roots

Identification and Control of Latent Bacteria in in vitro Cultures of Sweetpotato [Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam]. 10% of about 2400 in vitro plantlets had a total of about 20 types of bacteria, some of which might be beneficial for all we know, but all of which could be removed.
Genome-wide genotyping elucidates the geographical diversification and dispersal of the polyploid and clonally propagated yam (Dioscorea alata L.). Asian and Pacific genepools, thence to India, then Africa, then the Caribbean.
Multi-parent populations in crops: a toolbox integrating genomics and genetic mapping with breeding. Like MAGIC.
Genetic and genomic resources, and breeding for accelerating improvement of small millets: current status and future interventions. Here’s all the promising material, now go crazy with the MAGIC.
Plural valuation of nature for equity and sustainability: Insights from the Global South. The road to decolonizing conservation.
Long-Term Storage and Longevity of Orthodox Seeds: A Systematic Review. Treat your seeds right.
Changes in food access by mestizo communities associated with deforestation and agrobiodiversity loss in Ucayali, Peruvian Amazon. Less diversified diets, loss of forest cover and reduced agricultural biodiversity go together, somehow.
Evaluation of Wild Potato Germplasm for Tuber Starch Content and Nitrogen Utilization Efficiency. Wild species are better on both counts.
Conservation protocols for Ensete glaucum, a crop wild relative of banana, using plant tissue culture and cryopreservation techniques on seeds and zygotic embryos. 2 accessions thus conserved at NBPGR.
Computational models to improve surveillance for cassava brown streak disease and minimize yield loss. Fancy maths shows that planting clean material helps a lot.
Genome wide association analysis of a stemborer egg induced “call-for-help” defence trait in maize. “…egg-induced parasitoid attraction trait was more common in landraces than in improved inbred lines and hybrids.”
Low Additive Genetic Variation in a Trait Under Selection in Domesticated Rice. That would be root growth under drought and Al stress conditions. Every accession has a different set of low frequency causal alleles.