- Trait variation and genetic diversity in a banana genomic selection training population. You can use easy-to-measure traits as proxies for important but difficult-to-measure traits. Both of which will hopefully end up in…
- MGIS: managing banana (Musa spp.) genetic resources information and high-throughput genotyping data. Very cool. So when can we expect the data in Genesys?
- Heirloom rice in Ifugao: an ‘anti-commodity’ in the process of commodification. Calling a landrace a “heirloom variety” is just another form of capitalist oppression.
- Race, Status, and Biodiversity: The Social Climbing of Quinoa. Not to mention racist.
- To what extent are genetic resources considered in environmental service provision? A case study based on trees and carbon sequestration. Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) afforestation/reforestation project design documents are often unrealistic about the chances of sourcing sufficient quantity and quality of seeds of indigenous species.
- Diversity analysis on catechin genetic of wild tea plant from Yunnan province. They determine whether a variety is used for green or black tea.
- Genetic differences between potato strains introduced from International Potato Center (CIP) and domestic potato resources by SSR molecular markers. The CIP varieties are quite different to the Chinese ones. But we kinda knew that.
- SSR marker analysis points to population admixture and continuum of genetic variation among Indian landraces of brinjal (Solanum melongena L.). Brinjal gets moved around a lot.
- A high-throughput, field-based phenotyping technology for tall biomass crops. Estimate plant height and stem diameter in sorghum, say, without leaving the office.
- Comparative analysis of environmental impacts of agricultural production systems, agricultural input efficiency, and food choice. Better for environment to change dietary habits than production systems.
Botanical gardenfest takes root
The 6th Global Botanic Gardens Congress of Botanic Gardens Conservation International is being hosted by the Conservatory and Botanical Garden of Geneva, Switzerland, starting today. Follow with #6GBGC.
Oh, and there’s also Plant Biology 2017 in Hawaii, with #plantbio17. So many hashtags, so little time…
Nibbles: IPR handbook, People’s food, Open seeds, Club apples, Comms, Indian mangoes, Chili history, Bitter cassava, Better yams
- IPR for indigenous peoples.
- A People’s Food Policy released today.
- Free the Seed! A sort of example of the above?
- Are club apples a sort of example of the above?
- Historical mangoes are disappearing in Hyderabad. If only they’d been, you know, protected.
- The origin of spicyness in (some) chilis.
- The downside of cassava in Venezuela.
- The upside of better seed yams in Nigeria.
- Ag comms: don’t be an eagle or a chicken. I’m a parrot, myself. Circumspice.
Nibbles: Dog & cat domestication, Domestication book, CGIAR genebanks, Famous trees, “Ancient” beans, ACACIA, Beer book, Melon breeding, Farming trees, CC & health
- Ancient Japanese dog burials show they helped with the hunt. At least in some places and for a while. Maybe.
- Ancient cat DNA shows they just helped themselves.
- I guess Alice Roberts’ new book will cover all that.
- IITA and ICARDA genebanks in the news.
- Cool trees.
- Is this the real story of Anasazi beans?
- Speeding up crop improvement in Africa.
- Extreme fermented beverages: my kind of book.
- Wal-Mart’s fancy new cantaloupe .
- Registering on-farm trees in Ghana.
- Oh what’s the point, we’re all doomed anyway.
Squeezing olives
BTW, if you want to see what that “olive plague” we blogged about a few days ago looks like, here’s a despatch from the front lines by our intrepid photojournalist on the spot, Layla.
Incidentally, my attention has coincidentally recently been drawn to the Bioresources For Oliviculture (BeFOre) project (emphasis added):
The project aims at establishing a multi-lateral network of research and innovation staff active in OLIVE germplasm access, conservation, evaluation and exploitation, strengthening research capacities through the exchange of knowledge and expertise on a shared research programme focused on establishing integrated common protocols to phenotype and characterize plants at molecular, morphological and physiological level, and evaluating the olive oil quality related to varieties. Particular attention will be paid at establishing the international intellectual property rights for conserving and exchanging the olive genetic resources. The involvement of some Non Academic Organizations will allow the sharing of knowledge and ideas from research to all levels of the olive production chain, from plant propagation to fruit production and oil extraction (and vice-versa).
The bit about IPR is important because olives are not on Annex 1 of the International Treaty, at least for now, and one of the deliverables of the project is:
Core set of genotypes present in the main olive cultivar collections and grown under different agro-environmental conditions to evaluate their agronomical performance
Hopefully some of those genotypes are going to be of use against Xylella, either directly or through breeding.