Neglected species

Agricultural intensification, dietary diversity, and markets in the global food security narrative. Intensification is all well and good but it needs to be sustainable and nutrition-sensitive.
Health, Seeds, Diversity and Terraces. Maybe evolutionary plant breeding can help with that.
Identification of barley powdery mildew resistances in gene bank accessions and the use of gene diversity for verifying seed purity and authenticity. It’s difficult to deal with heterogeneous accessions.
The USD 1,875.95 Seed Center. A serious-looking community seed bank in Bangladesh.
Assessing agroecosystem sustainability in Cuba: A new agrobiodiversity index. Not same as the old index.
North American Crop Wild Relatives, Volume 1. Volume 1?
Ex-situ conservation strategies for endangered plants in the Israel Gene Bank. Not just crops, and not just conservation…
The Institute of Evolution Wild Cereal Gene Bank at the University of Haifa. …and not even the only genebank in Israel.
Assessing Genetic Diversity to Breed Competitive Biofortified Wheat With Enhanced Grain Zn and Fe Concentrations. Four translocations from rye and various Aegilops species have resulted in 8 biofortified bread wheat varieties after a decade of work. Compare and contrast with potatoes.
Improving efficiency of seed system by appropriating farmer’s rights in India through adoption and implementation of policy of quality declared seed schemes in parallel. FAO’s Quality Declared Seed (QDS) system is the way to go.
Collecting wild Miscanthus germplasm in Asia for crop improvement and conservation in Europe whilst adhering to the guidelines of the United Nations’ Convention on Biological Diversity. It can be done.
Making friends in the field: How to become an ethnobotanist – A personal reflection. Yes, it can.
Mainstreaming Underutilized Indigenous and Traditional Crops into Food Systems: A South African Perspective. Start by having researchers translate their findings for policy makers.
Genotyping by sequencing (GBS) and SNP marker analysis of diverse accessions of pecan (Carya illinoinensis). Geographic patterning of genetic diversity and SNPs for dichogamy found.
Trait-based evaluation of plant assemblages in traditional farm ponds in Korea: Ecological and management implications. Dumbeongs are carefully managed. Well there’s a shocker.
Conservation gap analysis of crop wild relatives in Turkey. There still are some.
An in situ approach to the conservation of temperate cereal crop wild relatives in the Mediterranean Basin and Asian centre of diversity. 10 locations would do.
Molecular characterization and identification of new sources of tolerance to submergence and salinity from rice landraces of coastal India. 5 of 98 accessions had novel alleles.

Fresh Nibbles

The COUSIN project aims to conserve (trans situ, no less) and use crop wild relatives in Europe.
That “use” part can be tough.
But that doesn’t stop the fine people at Aardaia. At least where aardaker (Lathyrus tuberosus) is concerned.
From alternative potatoes in the Netherlands to alternative beans in Indonesia. All in the cause of diversification.
No need to find an alternative to amaranth in the American SW. Not with devoted chefs on the job.
The Iraqi Seed Collective is taking seeds from American genebanks to that country’s diaspora in the US, and eventually back to Iraq itself. Maybe chefs will help.
Good thing there are genebank backups, eh?

Published on July 9, 2025

Category: Neglected species

Nibbles: A2S2019, ICRISAT seeds, High protein rice, American grapes, Religion & diet, Australian NUS

Nibbles: Heirlooms double, Seed huntress, Sequencing, ABS

Brainfood: Intensification, Yemen ag, Czech barley, Bangladesh community genebank, Agrobiodiversity Index, North American CWR, Israeli genebanks, Biofortified wheat, QDS, Collecting Miscanthus, Ethnobotany, NUS, Pecan diversity, Korean ponds, CWR gaps double, Salty rice

Nibbles: Cherokee genebank, Community genebanks, Fruit genebank, CGIAR genebanks, CWR pre-breeding, Ethiopian sacred groves, UK animal ark

Nibbles: Trade wars, Native American seeds & diets, Diversifying staples, Cheese animation, Eggplant breeding