Indigenous knowledge systems

October 10, 2011October 11, 2011

Brainfood: Indian domestication, Canna domestication, Indigenous knowledge, Sunflower history, Diets and diversity, Immature grains

Finding Plant Domestication in the Indian Subcontinent. Maybe five independent centers of domestication, but maybe not. It’s complicated.
The Origin of Southeastern Asian Triploid Edible Canna (Canna discolor Lindl.) Revealed by Molecular Cytogenetical Study. It’s simple. C. indica var. indica and C. plurituberosa.
Diversity of Plant Knowledge as an Adaptive Asset: A Case Study with Standing Rock Elders. You’d be amazed what they know. It’s diverse.
Morphometric Analysis of Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) Achenes from Mexico and Eastern North America. It’s interesting. Size is a better descriptor than computerized shape analysis.
A Systematic Review on the Contributions of Edible Plant and Animal Biodiversity to Human Diets. It’s lacking; there isn’t nearly as much good evidence as you might expect.
Experimental approaches to understanding variation in grain size in Panicum miliaceum (broomcorn millet) and its relevance for interpreting archaeobotanical assemblages. It’s misleading. You need to make allowances for immature grains.

Don’t forget the open Mendeley group for the papers we link to here.

October 6, 2011October 6, 2011

Nibbles: Vigna umbellata, Afghanistan wheat catalogue, Pingali, Camptotheca, Water stress, Organic Farming for Health and Prosperity

Crops for the Future finds a nice ricebean project.
The wheats of Afghanistan.
A former ICRISAT intern speaks. The world listens.
Collecting the Happy Tree of China.
Global water stress maps. Does CCAFS know? Or care?
Rodale hearts organic.

October 4, 2011October 4, 2011

Nibbles: Rice straw, Rain makers, Sorghum beer, Gary Nabhan

Egyptian tech turns rice straw into paper, insecticide. Don’t suppose anyone thought of turning it into the soil?
Changing Kenyan climate threatens traditional rainmakers. Pouring cold water on my desire to make a witty comment.
Diana learns how to hold her pombe straw, and much else besides.
Gary Nabhan profile. He “gives life to nearly extinct grains, veggies.”

October 3, 2011October 3, 2011

Nibbles: Swaziland, Traditional Knowledge, Climate change, Apples, Winged beans, Ambakkadan Cassava

Queen Mother Ntombi Indlovukazi of Swaziland receives the FANRPAN 2011 Food Security Policy Leadership Award. Her son’s a caution too.
Summaries of presentations at Informing International Policy on Traditional Knowledge, Mexico 2011.
CGIAR book on “climate-proofing” crops critical to food security in the developing world.
Happy Birthday to the McIntosh apple.
Rhizowen’s winged beans fail to take flight.
Sharefair hears how women farmers in India resurrected a favoured cassava.
Sharefair hears dream-team pitch on frike, or as we prefer to say, freekeh.

October 3, 2011October 3, 2011

Brainfood: Rice yield, Carrot evaluation, Caper chemistry, Rice fortification, Range shifts, Baobab, Tunisian thyme, Drought-tolerant rice

Rice yields and yield gaps in Southeast Asia: Past trends and future outlook. If average farmers became like best-yielding farmers that would meet 2050 needs, except in the Philippines, where some more structural stuff is needed.
Method of evaluating diversity of carrot roots using a self-organizing map and image data. The sound you hear is that of butterflies being broken on wheels.
Bioactive compounds from Capparis spinosa subsp. rupestris. Are pretty much the same as those in subsp. spinosa.
Constitutive Overexpression of the OsNAS Gene Family Reveals Single-Gene Strategies for Effective Iron- and Zinc-Biofortification of Rice Endosperm. So that’s a good thing, right?
Analysis of climate paths reveals potential limitations on species range shifts. Corridors not the answer. Or not the only answer. Or not the full answer.
An updated review of Adansonia digitata: A commercially important African tree. Do baobab scientists not sometimes long for the Time Before Reviews, when they actually, you know, did stuff?
Genetic diversity, population structure and relationships of Tunisian Thymus algeriensis Boiss. et Reut. and Thymus capitatus Hoffm. et Link. assessed by isozymes. Dad, what’s an isozyme? Ah, son, it’s a thing people used in the Time Before DNA. The two species are different, they need to be managed in different ways.
Potential Impact of Biotechnology on Adaption of Agriculture to Climate Change: The Case of Drought Tolerant Rice Breeding in Asia. Kinda pointless: “in severe drought both the [drought tolerant] and the conventional varieties were either not planted or, if planted, did not yield”.