Information

January 14, 2021January 14, 2021

Agrobiodiversity events roundup

There’s a few things going on that readers may be interested in, so here goes, real quick:

The Culinary Breeding Network’s 2020-21 Variety Showcase + Winter Vegetable Sagra. Incidentally, if you’re interested int he whole “sagra” thing, you might like to check out the recent book by Michele Filippo Fontefrancesco. ¹
The Museum of Food and Drink has a packed schedule of events. GROWING RICE: A Migration Story from Seed to Plate stood out for me, but check out the whole calendar.
The Oxford Food Symposium will be celebrating its 40th anniversary on July 9-11.
Alas, the Oxford Real Farming Conference has finished, but you may be able to a flavour from tweets and the YouTube channel.

January 13, 2021January 15, 2021

Brainfood: Topical forages, Ne, Pearl millet nutrition, Sorghum strategy, Tillering rice, Exchanging wheat, Recollecting wheat, Yeast domestication, Amazonian maize, Synthesizing groundnut, Strawberry dispersal, Soya structure, Remote change, Green Revolution, Unintended consequences

Tropical forage technologies can deliver multiple benefits in Sub-Saharan Africa. A meta-analysis. Including improved germplasm, which had on average 2.6 times higher herbage productivity than local controls.
Effective population size remains a suitable, pragmatic indicator of genetic diversity for all species, including forest trees. Which is good because you can estimate it fairly easily. Well, kinda. It’s important because it’s one of the Genetic diversity targets and indicators proposed for the CBD post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.
Exploring the genetic variability and diversity of pearl millet core collection germplasm for grain nutritional traits improvement. 15 of 212 accessions are good for multiple nutrients.
Global Status of Sorghum Genetic Resources Conservation. The two biggest collections are updating their data.
Genomic basis of geographical adaptation to soil nitrogen in rice. Rice lost high tillering in high N conditions, but can get it back to cope with low N conditions.
The Economic Impact of Exchanging Breeding Material: Assessing Winter Wheat Production in Germany. It really pays for breeders to exchange material.
Comparative analysis of the gene pool structure of Triticum aethiopicum wheat accessions conserved ex situ and recollected in fields after 85 years. Vavilov’s collections are more diverse.
Evidence for Two Main Domestication Trajectories in Saccharomyces cerevisiae Linked to Distinct Bread-Making Processes. Being adapted for industrial and artisanal baking respectively.
Entrelaçado, a rare maize race conserved in Southwestern Amazonia. Gap-filling pays off. Hope we can re-collect it in 85 years’ time.
ValSten: a new wild species derived allotetraploid for increasing genetic diversity of the peanut crop (Arachis hypogaea L.). Playing God with peanuts.
Long-distance dispersal of the beach strawberry, Fragaria chiloensis, from North America to Chile and Hawaii. For the birds.
Genetic architecture of wild soybean (Glycine soja Sieb. and Zucc.) populations originating from different East Asian regions. At least 3 separate groups, and the collection stored in Korea is pretty representative.
Supporting habitat conservation with automated change detection in Google Earth Engine. Fancy math can detect land use change quickly and accurately.
Health Impacts of the Green Revolution: Evidence from 600,000 births across the Developing World. Modern varieties reduced infant mortality by 2.4–5.3 percentage points (from 18%), with stronger effects for male infants and among poor households. Why we do all of the above?
Articulating the effect of food systems innovation on the Sustainable Development Goals. Yeah, not so fast…

January 13, 2021February 1, 2021

Alternative seed sources

Sometimes, seeds of old and interesting crop varieties are not solely (or even at all) available from genebanks. In the US, for example, there are a number of other options, as summarized below by our friend Marty Reisinger, especially aimed at amateur gardeners:

Plant Information Online: Operated by the University of Minnesota. Enables searches for specific cultivars.
Dave’s Garden: Search over 160,000 plants. Members can chat with other gardeners in their forums.
Master Gardeners. Each state has a Master Gardener organization. Follow the link for one near you.

I’m sure there are similar resources for other countries, and wouldn’t it be nice to bring them all together?

LATER: Here’s a resource for Canada. Via.

LATER STILL: See also this roundup in Modern Farmer.

January 12, 2021

Nibbles: Newsletter edition

Jeremy goes nuts in his latest newsletter. And more.
Sprouts from Brussels is the best name for a seeds newsletter I’ve ever seen.
The GenRes Bridge December 2020 newsletter summarizes progress on the development of the European Genetic Resources Strategy.

December 21, 2020November 27, 2020

Brainfood: Behaviour change, Banana evolution, Clonal conservation, Pea evolution, Fe fortification, Diet data, Cassava potential, Creole breeds, Water buffalo evolution, Bison and CWR

A systematic review of conservation efforts using non-monetary, non-regulatory incentives to promote voluntary behaviour change. Mix it up, and get personal.
Chromosome reciprocal translocations have accompanied subspecies evolution in bananas. Some subspecies of M. acuminata were more involved in cultivar development than others.
Challenges and Prospects for the Conservation of Crop Genetic Resources in Field Genebanks, in In Vitro Collections and/or in Liquid Nitrogen. Everything that can be, should be in cryo.
Population genetic structure and classification of cultivated and wild pea (Pisum sp.) based on morphological traits and SSR markers. The species are real, the subspecies maybe less so.
Iron Absorption from Iron-Biofortified Sweetpotato Is Higher Than Regular Sweetpotato in Malawian Women while Iron Absorption from Regular and Iron-Biofortified Potatoes Is High in Peruvian Women. More than just calories.
Survey data on income, food security, and dietary behavior among women and children from households of differing socio-economic status in urban and peri-urban areas of Nairobi, Kenya. Lots of data to play around with, including on dietary diversity. But not on biofortification, I don’t think.
“Rambo root” to the rescue: How a simple, low‐cost solution can lead to multiple sustainable development gains. Grow it on degraded land. After biofortifying it, natch.
Genetic Diversity and Structure of Iberoamerican Livestock Breeds. Creole breeds are hanging in there, especially in marginal areas. Maybe they could be fed on cassava?
Whole genome analysis of water buffalo and global cattle breeds highlights convergent signatures of domestication. The same mutations occurred independently and were then selected for in water buffalo and cattle.
Bison, anthropogenic fire, and the origins of agriculture in eastern North America. Bison favoured the growth of crop wild relatives in the prairies. No word on any attempt to domesticate the brutes, but the above should provide some guidance.
Archaeogenomics of a ~2,100-year-old Egyptian leaf provides a new timestamp on date palm domestication. Dates showed introgression from wild relatives way back. No evidence of bison involvement.