Neglected species

October 30, 2023

Roots and tubers to the rescue

The latest Seed Systems newsletter from the Alliance of Bioversity & CIAT has an interesting roundup of examples of the role of root and tuber crops in crisis situations:

Uganda: Refugee, host communities find relief and stability in orange-fleshed sweet potato
Mozambique: Reaching humanitarian and neglected places with the nutritious and resilient sweetpotato: The case of the Cyclone Idai in Manica and Sofala Provinces, Mozambique
Madagascar: Anti-malnutrition initiative targeting drought-affected populations exceeds expectations in 18 months
Cameroon: Relief group travels hundreds of kilometers to feed school children in Cameroon, braving roadblocks to grow orange-fleshed sweet potato in conflict-affected areas
Haiti: Improving the sweet potato seed system in a challenging humanitarian environment
Ethiopia: Discovering hope: Potato and sweetpotato technology transforming lives in drought and conflict-affected Ethiopia
DRC: IITA and CIP provide Eastern DRC relief efforts with RTB planting materials
Philippines: Crop resistance and household resilience – The case of cassava and sweetpotato during super-typhoon Ompong in the Philippines
Ecuador: Efforts of researchers and other stakeholders to manage an unfolding epidemic: Lessons from potato purple top in Ecuador

I think we may have included some of these in recent Nibbles and Brainfoods, but it’s nice to have them all together.

October 24, 2023

Nibbles: PlantSearch, Ranking apples, Pumpkin pix, Fruit pix, Livestock maps, Impact

Searching for plants in botanic gardens.
Searching for the best apple.
Searching for pumpkins and squashes.
Searching the Pomological Watercolor Collection.
Searching for livestock.
Searching for varietal turnover. And other kinds of impact.

October 8, 2023October 8, 2023

Nibbles: Community seedbanks everywhere, USDA genebanks, Public sector plant breeding, Salinity tolerance, Food systems transformation

Community seedbanks are so big in Zimbabwe that international NGOs are jumping on the bandwagon.
More from the Cherokee Nation Seed Bank, very much a friend of the blog. International NGOs unavailable for comment.
Community seedbanks are also in the news in Mexico.
And in Peru, of course. Oh, here’s a nice video from Peru on Andean roots and tubers, courtesy of CIP, since we’re here.
Indonesia too, you say? Yeah, why not.
How to protect genebank collections from climate change, courtesy of USDA. Community seedbanks please take note.
Who’s going to use all that diversity? Well public sector plant breeders of course.
Yes, even plant breeders working on Salicornia.
But how much of the 6 trillion dollars needed for food systems transformation is going to go to genebanks and plant breeding?

October 6, 2023October 6, 2023

The Financial Times does crop diversity

Nicely done. But 75%? Really? Ok, fine, the FT gets a pass because it’s such a nice video. But just this time.

October 2, 2023September 29, 2023

Branfood: Salinity tolerance, Comestibles, Underused species, On farm diversity, Minor cereals, Fragrant millet, Wild yams, Fonio, Winged bean, Giant taro, Nutmeg, Mungbean, Finger millet, Amaranth

Salt-Tolerant Crops: Time to Deliver. Sure, breeding for salt tolerance using crop wild relatives is great, but have you tried just domesticating salt-tolerant wild species?
Wild and cultivated comestible plant species in the Gulf of Mexico: phylogenetic patterns and convergence of type of use. No word on how many are salt-tolerant.
Underutilized plants increase biodiversity, improve food and nutrition security, reduce malnutrition, and enhance human health and well-being. Let’s put them back on the plate! No word on how many are salt-tolerant.
Indigenous crop diversity maintained despite the introduction of major global crops in an African centre of agrobiodiversity. If you want local crop diversity in Highland Ethiopia, look for it on the farms of the poorest. No word on how many are “underutilized”.
The role of minor cereals in food and nutrition security in Bangladesh: constraints to sustainable production. Low yields, apparently. I think it could do with having aromatic grains. If only there was a way to make that happen…
De novo creation of popcorn-like fragrant foxtail millet. Yeah, sometimes neither the crop not its wild relatives has the genes for it. Still, if you can edit in aroma, why not salt-tolerance?
Global Genepool Conservation and Use Strategy for Dioscorea (Yam). I wonder how many of these 27 wild species could usefully be domesticated. Or are salt-tolerant.
Towards conservation and sustainable use of an indigenous crop: A large partnership network enabled the genetic diversity assessment of 1539 fonio (Digitaria exilis) accessions. This is how you start to undo underutilization. I’m sure someone will edit it next.
Diversity Assessment of Winged Bean [Psophocarpus tetragonolobus (L.) DC.] Accessions from IITA Genebank. Same as above, but with one hundredth as many accessions. I guess winged bean is even more underutilized than fonio.
The forgotten giant of the Pacific: a review on giant taro (Alocasia macrorrhizos (L.) G.Don). Sad to say it doesn’t seem to be salt-tolerant. Maybe it’s aromatic, though. Or could be gene-edited to become so. Wouldn’t that be something.
Retracing the center of origin and evolutionary history of nutmeg Myristica fragrans, an emblematic spice tree species. No need for editing, let’s just conserve the really diverse populations of the North Moluccas.
Demographic history and distinct selection signatures of two domestication genes in mungbean. Domesticating the mungbean wasn’t all that easy. Hope it’s easier for some random salt-tolerant wild species.
A plausible screening approach for moisture stress tolerance in finger millet (Eleusine coracana L.) germplasm accessions using membership function value at the seedling stage. Will it work on fonio? Or salt-tolerance?
Adoption and impact of improved amaranth cultivars in Tanzania using DNA fingerprinting. So can we stop calling it underutilized? And start gene-editing it for aroma?