- Patterns of nuclear and chloroplast genetic diversity and structure of manioc along major Brazilian Amazonian rivers. No structure related to river basins. Separate histories for sweet and bitter types, with the sweet domesticated and spreading first.
- Practical considerations for plant phylogenomics. Use the right tool for the job.
- The genetics of fruit flavour preferences. Here’s a “molecular roadmap to flavour improvement,” breeders. Now go crazy.
- Beyond Culinary Colonialism: Indigenous Food Sovereignty, Liberal Multiculturalism, and the Control of Gastronomic Capital. Multiculturalism is incompatible with food sovereignty.
- Predicting genotypes environmental range from genome‐environment associations. Fraction of aridity-associated alleles in wild beet could accurately predict adaptation to aridity in independent set of cultivated individuals.
- Diversity of drought tolerance in the genus Vigna. No word on genotypes. But wilds more tolerant of drought in Vigna too.
- Identification of Drought, Heat, and Combined Drought and Heat Tolerant Donors in Maize. Only 2 out of 300 inbreds are resistant to both drought and heat. No word on how teosinte does.
- Benefit sharing mechanisms for agricultural genetic diversity use and in-situ conservation. Show me the money.
- The Nagoya Protocol could backfire on the Global South. It’s not just about the money.
- Invasion of a legume ecosystem engineer in a cold biome alters plant biodiversity. Biosafety first.
- Interspecific germ cell transplantation: a new light in the conservation of valuable Balkan trout genetic resources? Maybe.
African crops in Suriname
If you liked a Brainfood item about African crops in Suriname, you’ll love this interview with Edith Adjako, a woman of Maroon descent, recorded by one of the authors, Tinde van Andel.
Nibbles: Konzo double, ANI, ICRISAT genebank, World Potato Congress, Coffee sequence, Food Forever job
- The fascinating story of konzo, nicely told.
- You’ll remember my take on that, of course.
- Speaking of my take, on the release of the Access to Nutrition Index I ask: cui bono genebanks?
- Somebody mention genebanks? Yes, ICRISAT.
- Consider the beauty of the humble potato.
- Nobody ever calls coffee humble.
- Wanna tell the world about any of the above?
The timeless story of Glass Gem corn
This article was originally published in 2013 and has been updated because the story is timeless.
Recording coconut traditional knowledge, before it’s too late
Roland Bourdeix has a new coconut video out
and has been telling members of the Coconut Google Group all about it.
1) This is the first documented case in Polynesia where a farmer plants many coconut palms and removes the baddest. I found that most Pacific farmers are generally very conservative and, once a coconut palm is planted, they keep it for a long time, be it a good or a bad producer. Jokingly, we could say that most of these farmers treat coconut palms as members of their families. This movie demonstrates that I was wrong and that, at least in some cases, farmers are applying the technique that is recommended in our website: to plant more coconut palms and to remove those which are not producing well. See the details here and here.
2) I was very surprised to see that this farmer is applying the criteria for selecting coconut fruits similar than those developed in the method proposed by myself, V. Kumar from Fiji and V. Mataora from the Cooks. There is a scene where the farmer is discarding the biggest fruits and keeps only the one with thin husk and big coconut inside. So our method is well connected to some traditional practices, here in Atiu, Cook Islands. It’s pleasant and reassuring, because we did not know the link with traditional practice at the time when we developed this method. See details here.
Once again, this short movie demonstrates how important it is to record the knowledge of the elders before it disappears. As I pointed out during our CIDP meeting on coconut planting material, video is the most convenient way to record this knowledge and transmit it to the new generation. So we recommend all Pacific Islanders agricultural officers and researchers to take their video camera and and save as much of this knowledge as possible before it disappears!
Please let a comment on YouTube, as the more comments we have, the easiest the movie will be located and cited by Web search engines. The movie was done and downloaded in high definition, so if you want to see it in HD, please just click on the parameter icon at down right of the movie window.
Seconded.