- Saving the scrub lupine. Well, it’s a crop wild relative of sorts.
- Dietary approaches to reduction of belching. No, not less beer and peanuts in front of the TV.
- “Governments and institutions should strongly promote new agricultural technologies suitable for smallholders through increased investment in crop breeding and livestock research.” That would be IFPRI on the actions needed to prevent recurring food crises. Hope that includes supporting the genebanks.
- “Can’t nutritionists make up their minds? They keep changing things!” Nuff said.
- Carrots are exotic? In Canada? Yes indeedy.
- Rachel dissects the cost of proper poi in Hawaii.
- Behold Barhal, relative of breadfruit.
- High yielding mung-bean repatriated to Somalia. Genebanks protect and serve?
- Do your bit for conservation, eat an invasive. Or, perhaps, a bison?
- Bad news for Indian mangoes. What I want to know is whether there are any varieties that are doing really well.
- Mediterranean forests going up in smoke. Bad for the crop wild relatives in them too, no doubt
Six-horned Semien sheep
Couldn’t resist posting this photo of a truly weird sheep.
Nibbles: Buffalo, Future plants, Thai rice
- The International Buffalo Knowledge Resource Service has a website. No, really.
- Plants for a Future website includes crop wild relatives. No, really.
- Thai jasmine rice trademark pirated. No, really?
Nibbles: Gardening, Seed Swap, Mapping, Animal Genebank, Rice, Seed Treay, Nanocellulose, Camels, Bread, food Security
- Gardening is good for you. It’s official. And they didn’t even measure nutrition.
- European seed swap in Brussels.
- More fun for mappers; Training Kit on Participatory Spatial Information Management and Communication. h/t CAPRi
- Australian animal genebank under threat.
- Filipinos ♥ IRRI.
- Big write up of Seed Treaty‘s recent Governing Body meeting in Bali.
- Wired magazine goes nuts for bananas and other fruits as sources of better plastics.
- Camelicious! The worlds first large-scale camel dairy farm.
- Food strikes in ancient Egypt. They’ve been revolting for more than 3000 years.
- Nice round-up of how indigenous communities in Colombia are protecting their food security.
Brainfood: Striga, Rice, Fish, Biofortification, Ecosystem functioning, Intercrops
OK, so we’re trying an experiment, siphoning off Nibbles about research, often in peer-reviewed journals, into their own hi-falutin’ cookie jar. We’ll probably publish once a week. And being here doesn’t mean we won’t revisit them later.
- Genetic diversity of a parasitic weed, Striga hermonthica, on sorghum and pearl millet in Mali. The parasite is diverse, but no differences in parasitized fields.
- Genetic differentiation among Sri Lankan traditional rice (Oryza sativa) varieties and wild rice species by AFLP markers. Four major clusters agree with morphology.
- Genetic variation in farmed populations of the gilthead sea bream Sparus aurata in Greece using microsatellite DNA markers. Farmed are less diverse and less heterozygous.
- Restoration of hay meadows on ex-arable land: commercial seed mixtures vs. spontaneous succession. No difference in long-term diversity, but there are other considerations.
- Bio-available zinc in rice seeds is increased by activation tagging of nicotianamine synthase. It works.
- Soil fauna alter the effects of litter composition on nitrogen cycling in a mineral soil. It’s complex; larger fauna affect N dynamics.
- Dry matter yield, nitrogen content, and competition in pea–cereal intercropping systems. Intercrops are more productive and deliver higher forage quality.
So what do you reckon? Is this worthwhile?