Livestock

Nibbles: Parthenium, Squashes

Parthenium hysterophorus is smothering Kenya. Somebody do something. And what’s that specific mean? Late-bearing?
Cucurbits and American history.
NordGen etc workshop on Socio-economic and Cultural Values of Farm Animal Breeds. And all the presentations are linked. But where are the stories?

Exclusive breastfeeding duration and later intake of vegetables in preschool children. More breastfeeding means more vegetables later on.
Common names of species, the curious case of Capra pyrenaica and the concomitant steps towards the ‘wild-to-domestic’ transformation of a flagship species and its vernacular names. Applying the common name of a domestic species to a wild one can cause problems. Yeah but how do you get across the importance of wild relatives otherwise?
Testing the central market hypothesis: a multivariate analysis of Tanzanian sorghum markets. Lots of fancy maths proves there are basically two sorghum markets in Tanzania. But what does that mean for diversity?
Evolutionary history of barley cultivation in Europe revealed by genetic analysis of extant landraces. Nine geographically-based populations, which go back to the early days of the spread of agriculture. Now, tell me someone, do they correspond with the human genetic data?
Genetic erosion impedes adaptive responses to stressful environments. Stress reduces variability, which reduces ability to respond to stress.

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

Thanks to the hyperactive DAD-Net, three bits of news of interest for livestock diversity conservation:

A report on Rare Breed International’s 8th Global Conference.
New articles in the journal “Pastoralism” are open access online. But for how long?
NordGen is seeking a leader of NordGen-Farm Animals. It says here there is more info online but I can’t find it. No doubt it’ll be up soon.

LATER: Oh, and here are the pictures from the Pakistani National Goat Show, including some of the winning entries.

WorldFish director has a brand new blog with a fancy Latin tag. Expiscor: to fish out, to find out, and discover.
Cuba boasts home-grown Guardians of the Forests.
Promotion of Andean Crops for Rural Development in Ecuador. No idea what this is or why it popped up now, but worth sharing anyway.
Bioversity shares slides on The role of agricultural biodiversity in diets in the developing world: Improving diet diversity, quality and ecosystem sustainability.
IIED comes out for traditional methods to cope with climate change. Could we abandon this sterile dichotomy, please?

Botswana wants more home-grown R&D for horticulture.
The wonder of Aberyswyth’s high-sugar grasses. (Linking to the link farm because Aber has only a PDF.)
The Archaeobotanist points to an online database of phytoliths … because you never know when you’ll need one.