- Alien introgressions represent a rich source of genes for crop improvement. Polyploids such as wheat do it best.
- Characterization of sorghum genotypes for traits related to drought tolerance. There is diversity within the “association panel” of diverse germplasm used. What I want to know is how that is different from a core or mini-core collection.
- Rice near-isogenic-lines (NILs) contrasting for grain yield under lowland drought stress. Small genetic differences can lead to big differences in yield under drought stress. What I want to know is whether doing this on NILs is better value for money than doing it on association panels of germplasm (see above), whatever they may be.
- Towards better tasting and more nutritious carrots: Carotenoid and sugar content variation in carrot genetic resources. European accessions sweeter and more orange than Asian.
- Changes in duration of developmental phases of durum wheat caused by breeding in Spain and Italy during the 20th century and its impact on yield. Fascinating unpicking of just where the genetic changes have their impact.
- Legume genetic resources: management, diversity assessment, and utilization in crop improvement. A lot of characterization, not enough evaluation. Core collections useful, but not useful enough. Crop wild relatives being used, but not enough. Good plug for the importance of geo-referencing.
- Genetic diversity and geographical peculiarity of Tibetan wild soybean (Glycine soja). Low and high, respectively.
- Analysis of agricultural production instability in the Gezira Scheme. Went up for wheat, cotton and sorghum, down for groundnuts, on liberalization.
- Biochar effects on soil biota – A review. It’s complicated but, on the whole, not unpositive.
- A research agenda to explore the role of conservation agriculture in African smallholder farming systems. Basically, it is likely to work least well in marginal conditions. Which is kinda surprising, and not, at the same time.
- Ecotypes of European grass species respond differently to warming and extreme drought. Yeah, but, alas, not in the way one might have wished.
- Comparison of nutritional quality of the crops grown in an organic and conventional fertilized soil. Maybe lower nitrate and N, higher P in organic crops. But really too much variation to be sure.
Nibbles: Chemical life, Cacao disease, Clove disease, Ag value addition
- The old go-intensive-so-we-don’t-have-to-plough-up-Nature-for-more-farmland argument rears its beautiful head again.
- Frosty pod rot comes to Latin America’s cacao, but CATIE has the varieties.
- But clove is not so lucky.
- Value addition, the Kenyan way.
Nibbles: Canids, Pea, Cacao, Scallops
- Dogs are different from wolves, different types of wolves are different from each other.
- Vavilov-Frankel Fellow on the move.
- Nacional cacao bean rediscovered in northern Peru.
- Manx Queenies deemed to be sustainable. And wipe that smile off your face.
Nibbles, Menu edition: Garlic, Potatoes, Meat, Tomatoes, Ramps, Bananas, Chocolate, Coffee, Pepper breeding, Local cattle in RSA
- Chicago, Chicago, it’s an edible town. Major urban centre named for edible wild species shock.
- Drought-resistant potatoes! At least 1000 genes involved.
- Test-tube burgers? ((Not normally the kind of thing I’d link to, but you can see what’s happening here.))
- Wild tomatoes and climate change. A meeting round-up from our chums at CIAT.
- The appeal of fair trade bananas. A good read.
- Technical Guidelines on the Safe Movement of Cacao Germplasm updated.
- Coffee, please. A cup of your finest specialty variety.
- Caribbean pepper breeders getting hot under the collar.
- Gotta love the way Farm Radio Weekly not only has great stories about agrobiodiversity, but also handy background notes.
Well, that was fun.
Geographical Indications in the spotlight
Our friends at Crops for the Future do a nice job of summarizing the paper “The protection of Geographical Indications (GI): Generating Empirical Evidence at Country and Product Level to Support African ACP Country Engagement in the Doha Round Negotiations.” So I don’t need to, beyond referring to the bottom line: “GIs may entail trade-offs rather than the elusive “win-win” situation.” But I will say that I think it’s strange for the “Organization for an International Geographical Indications Network, … a Swiss-based NGO that represents 200 organizations and over two-million GI producers, from some 40 countries” to have a (fairly active) Twitter account but no RRS RSS feed from its website.