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September 25, 2025September 27, 2025

‘Cima di cola’ reaches a milestone, apparently

So it seems the first vegetable variety from Puglia has been added to Italy’s Registro nazionale delle varietà da conservazione, or National Register of Conservation Varieties.

The ‘Cima di cola’, a cauliflower variety historically linked to the agricultural tradition of Bari, received official recognition by Ministerial Decree of 9 September 2025, published in the Official Gazette No. 216 of 17 September 2025, which will allow its conservation and promotion also at the commercial level.

I know this because of a post on Facebook from an outfit called Biodiversità delle specie orticole della Puglia (BiodiverSO), translated above. Which unfortunately doesn’t include a link, but does provide this screenshot of Italy’s Official Gazette to prove its point.

Here’s more from the BiodiverSO post.

The inclusion of the ‘Cima di cola’ among conservation varieties is not only an institutional achievement, but also an act of recognition toward those who have preserved its seeds and traditions over the years; a milestone that opens new opportunities for scientific, educational, and gastronomic promotion, which we look forward to sharing with you.

Doubtless.

Which is why I was pretty disappointed to find that the Registro nazionale delle varietà di specie agrarie ed ortive is not actually up to date, so doesn’t yet include ‘Cima di cola’.

Quite apart from not being exactly easy to find. And there was also nothing in the relevant news section, which is actually on a different website, but nevermind.

Anyway, there are 135 “Varietà da Conservazione” registered therein. It’s unclear how to obtain seeds.

LATER: Thanks to Filippo Guzzon for advising me that ‘Cima di cola’ is indeed on the list. I was looking for it under the wrong crop name :(

September 22, 2025September 25, 2025

Brainfood: Taxonomic identification, Niche mapping, Harvest tracking, Drones, Phenomics, Yield analysis

Review of herbarium plant identification of crop wild relatives using convolutional neural network models. Cool tech helps you figure out which species is which. Now you can map them properly I guess.
Habitat prediction mapping for prioritizing germplasm collection areas of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp) in India using BioClim model. Having mapped them, another cool tech helps you figure out where to collect them.
Harvest Date Monitoring in Cereal Fields at Large Scale Using Dense Stacks of Sentinel-2 Imagery Validated by Real Time Kinematic Positioning Data. And when.
Drone methods and educational resources for plant science and agriculture. In the field, cool tech could help you find and collect them. And not just that…
Foliar disease resistance phenomics of fungal pathogens: image-based approaches for mapping quantitative resistance in cereal germplasm. Having collected them, more cool tech helps you evaluate them.
Machine learning reveals drivers of yield sustainability in five decades of continuous rice cropping. Finally, having evaluated them over many years, cool tech helps you figure out what’s going on.

September 16, 2025September 16, 2025

Nibbles: Corn diseases, German potato collection, Vietnam rice trials, Endophyte strain, Fish nutrition, Himalayan pea, Subversive seeds

The US needs better maize.
German genebank looks for the best potatoes.
Vietnam looks for better rice in IRRI’s genebank.
New Zealand markets an endophyte for better grass performance.
Some Timor-Leste fish are better than others.
The Himalayas have a better pea. Of some kind.
How’s that for subversive cataloguing?

September 15, 2025September 23, 2025

Brainfood: Genebank metrics, Genebank reviews, Botanic gardens ABS, Genebank practical guides, Germplasm User Groups

A Proposal for Genebank Metrics to Enhance Collection Management. A framework of 10 mandatory and 38 optional metrics for orthodox-seed genebank collections (covering size, documentation, conservation, availability, distribution etc.) to improve performance, transparency and collaboration in genebank management.
Genebank Peer Reviews: A powerful tool to improve genebank quality and promote collaboration. Starting in 2019, a peer-review system among European genebanks involving self-assessments, site visits and expert evaluation has helped improve practices, strengthen capacity, and foster knowledge exchange, though it requires sustained resources and a pool of experts. I suspect they’re using at least some of the above metrics.
Could botanic gardens use the Plant Treaty to regulate plant material more effectively? Yes they could, just like genebanks already do. And yes, I am sure there are metrics.
Release of two new practical guides to support ex situ conservation in genebanks. FAO publishes new guides to help genebanks implement the Genebank Standards in practice for non-orthodox seeds and cryopreservation, aiming to reduce technical barriers and improve consistency. Now for some metrics.
Unlocking genebanks for farmer resilience: Assessing the impact of ‘Germplasm User Groups’ in enhancing farmers’ access to diversity. In five African countries, forming “Germplasm User Groups” connecting farmers to national genebanks increases awareness, improves access to crop diversity, generates seed sharing spillovers, and hopefully helps farmers respond to climate-related challenges.

Want to know what AI makes of the above? “Genebanks are sharpening their tools: new metrics set benchmarks for performance, peer reviews foster collaboration, and the Plant Treaty offers clearer rules for sharing, FAO’s practical guides make standards easier to apply, while Germplasm User Groups show how farmers benefit when genebanks open their doors.” Sounds good to me. But to what extent will also this be adopted around the world, and will it last?

September 8, 2025September 8, 2025

Brainfood: Core collections of…durum, deulkkae, barnyard millet, durian, sesame, flax, Fendler’s horsenettle, jute mallow, barley

Creation of a core set of durum wheat accessions based on agro-morphological traits with maximum diversity and lower redundancy. From 710 to 13 accessions (2%!) using 32 morphological traits, thanks to Power Core.
Construction of a core collection of Perilla frutescens (L.) Britton Germplasm in the South Korean gene bank using agro-morphological traits. From 1227 to 235 accessions (19%) using 17 morphological traits, thanks to a bunch of different methods.
Comprehensive Phenotyping of 1,807 Indian Barnyard Millet (Echinochloa frumentacea Link) Accessions from Indian National Genebank: Unlocking Diversity for Core Set Development. From 1,807 to 271 accessions (15%) using 23 quantitative traits, thanks to Core Hunter 3.
Genomic resequencing reveals genetic diversity, population structure, and core collection of durian germplasm. From 114 to 26 accessions (23%) using 39 million high-quality SNPs across the genome.
Development of a composite core collection from 5,856 sesame accessions being conserved in the Indian National Genebank. From 5,856 to 1,768 accessions (30%) using SNPs and phenotypic data.
Optimizing core collections for genetic studies: a worldwide flax germplasm case study. From 1,593 to 350 accessions (22%) using phenotypic and genotypic data, times 200, thanks to CoreCollection, corehunter III, TrainSel, and more.
An Optimized Core Sample of the Wild Potato Solanum fendleri in the USA. From 269 accessions, to 38 plants, to 1 accession (0.4%!). Beat that!
Countrywide Corchorus olitorius L. core collection shows an adaptive potential for future climate in Benin. From 305 to 54 accessions (18%) using 1,114 high-quality SNPs, thanks to ShinyCore. Some indication of usefulness.
Multi-environmental evaluation of barley core collection against spot blotch for genetic variability and identification of promising genotypes exhibiting resistance. From a core collection of 678 accessions to 2 genotypes that might actually be useful to breeders. Finally!