- 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.
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.
Brainfood: Arracacha diversity, Mediterranean diet, Asian sheep & goats, Alpine flax, Breeding efficiency, Models, Domestication & seed size, Palm uses, CC & production, Insecticide & diversity
- Assessment of genetic relationships between cultivated arracacha (Arracacia xanthorrhiza Bancr.) and its wild close relatives in the area of domestication using microsatellite markers. Lots more variation in the wild, natch.
- Exploring Relationships between Biodiversity and Dietary Diversity in the Mediterranean Region: Preliminary Insights from a Literature Review. There has been an increase in dietary diversity, but of the wrong sort of diversity.
- Special issue Of Small Ruminant Research on “Genetic diversity of small ruminants in Asia”. From the Punjab Urial sheep to the goats of Myanmar.
- Genetic diversity of flax accessions originating in the Alpine region: a case study for an ex situ germplasm evaluation based on molecular marker. Past genebank conservation hasn’t been perfect.
- Enhancing genetic gain in the era of molecular breeding. It all starts with genetic variance. Hello, genebanks!
- Crops In Silico: Generating Virtual Crops Using an Integrative and Multi-scale Modeling Platform. Factor in gene editing and goodbye genebanks.
- Unconscious selection drove seed enlargement in vegetable crops. And not only vegetables, cereals too. But remember African rice?
- Palm economic and traditional uses, evolutionary history and the IUCN Red List. Globally, the more threatened palms are the less used.
- Impact of Climate Change, Weather Extremes, and Price Risk on Global Food Supply. The effect is not just on production, but also price.
- Identifying the landscape drivers of agricultural insecticide use leveraging evidence from 100,000 fields. In Kern County, California, crop diversity decreases insecticide us. But…
Brainfood: Iron beans, Citrus evolution, Ethiopian co-ops, Farmer evaluation app, Exotic breeding, Cost of doing business, Plummy, Italian pears, Chinese cowpea, Breadfruit phylogeny, Seed collecting
- Iron beans in Rwanda: crop development and delivery experience. 800,000 households, discontinuation rate 11%. But the health outcomes? Too early, I guess.
- Phylogenetic origin of limes and lemons revealed by cytoplasmic and nuclear markers. It’s so VERY complicated.
- Seed producer cooperatives in the Ethiopian seed sector and their role in seed supply improvement: A review. Sitting between the formal and informal seed systems, they “play a key role in meeting seed demand and contribute greatly to seed supply improvement through high-volume production of seed, crop, and variety diversification, and seed delivery to farmers.”
- Gamification of farmer-participatory priority setting in plant breeding: Design and validation of “AgroDuos”. Based on pairwise ranking. I remember doing it by hand, but it’s nice to have the app. And there’s more.
- Emerging Avenues for Utilization of Exotic Germplasm. It comes down to the collections being better characterized and understood.
- Genetic resource policies in international collaborative research for food and agriculture: A study of USAID-funded innovation labs. Transaction costs are rising. Well, yeah.
- Plums: A Brief Introduction. Will keep you regular.
- Characterization and phylogenetic analysis of ancient Italian landraces of pear. Some synonyms found, some unknown things identified. All very worthy.
- Genetic diversity and a population structure analysis of accessions in the Chinese cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.] germplasm collection. The Chinese stuff is different to the African stuff.
- Out of Borneo: biogeography, phylogeny and divergence date estimates of Artocarpus (Moraceae). Yeah but how many can you eat?
- Effective seed harvesting strategies for the ex situ genetic diversity conservation of rare tropical tree populations. “…fewer seeds from each of a larger number of trees, … from peripheral subdivided regions of the population.”