Networking

June 21, 2019June 21, 2019

Europeans working on European crop working groups

‪The European crop conservation network — ECPGR — has a couple of new crop working groups, on maize and on berries. All the working groups have very informative pages on the ECPGR website, including details of all members and a mailing list, a link to relevant germplasm, and meeting and project reports. Worth exploring, if you’re interested in those crops. Start with berries.

A reminder that you can explore data from the European genebank network on the Eurisco website, and also mashed up with genebanks from other parts of the world on Genesys. As an example, here’s the Eurisco Ribes data on Genesys. Unclick the “EURISCO” tab to see what’s available in genebanks outside Europe.

LATER: Oh, and by the way, European genebanks have also started to review each other. The CGIAR genebanks have also all been reviewed by external experts in the past few years.

February 26, 2019February 26, 2019

Nibbles: Homeric food, Two atlases, Cacao breeding, Smart foods, Lancet/EAT, Wild grapes, Landrace maize, Training breeders, Apios, Sustainable use, Cost of nutrition

Did Homeric heroes eat a lot of meat? The answer will surprise you. A thread.
Social food atlas to be launched.
Atlas of West African food systems already launched. Very different thing.
Saving chocolate through biotech.
What makes foods smart?
Pros and cons of the Lancet/EAT thing. And more.
Waking up the wine industry to the beauty grapevine wild relatives.
The magos of maize, from Mexico to the US, and back again.
Plant breeding training in Africa.
Pre-colonial North America: not wilderness, not dense forest, and not just the Three Sisters, lots of Apios too. Lots.
Food AND biodiversity.
Nutritious OR affordable.

February 25, 2019February 25, 2019

Brainfood: Improvement recapitulates domestication, Functional variation, Intensification, Gender & nutrition, Collaboration double, Losses, AgRenSeq , Crocus domestication, Saffron evolution, Mascarene CWR, Mexican CWR, ABS, Sweet cocoa, Tasty fruits, Baobab diversity

How can developmental biology help feed a growing population? By figuring out how domestication hacked developmental processes.
Distinct characteristics of genes associated with phenome-wide variation in maize (Zea mays). Analyzing a lot of traits at a time identifies a different set of phenotypically causal genes than more conventional single-trait approaches. What it all means in practice I have no idea, you tell me.
Sunflower pan-genome analysis shows that hybridization altered gene content and disease resistance. Not only is one trait not enough, one genome is not enough.
Agriculturally productive yet biodiverse: human benefits and conservation values along a forest-agriculture gradient in Southern Ethiopia. Depends what you mean by productive.
Does providing agricultural and nutrition information to both men and women improve household food security? Evidence from Malawi. Yes.
Principles of effective collaboration in agricultural development and research for impact. Learn from the birds.
Opening the dialogue: Research networks between high‐ and low‐income countries further understanding of global agro‐climatic challenges. See above. Maybe.
The global burden of pathogens and pests on major food crops. About 20%. We talked about this…
Resistance gene cloning from a wild crop relative by sequence capture and association genetics. A new way to reduce the above, using crop wild relatives.
Adding color to a century‐old enigma: multi‐color chromosome identification unravels the autotriploid nature of saffron (Crocus sativus) as a hybrid of wild Crocus cartwrightianus cytotypes. Which means you can now re-synthesize it.
Crop wild relative diversity and conservation planning in two isolated oceanic islands of a biodiversity hotspot (Mauritius and Rodrigues). Basically coffee.
Diversity and conservation priorities of crop wild relatives in Mexico. Over 300 species, but not coffee.
Benefit sharing mechanisms for agricultural genetic diversity use and on-farm conservation. Profit-sharing is better for conservation than technology transfer.
Are Cocoa Farmers in Trinidad Happy? Exploring Factors Affecting their Happiness. Well, those whose main crop was not cacao are happier, which must say something.
Edible fruits from Brazilian biodiversity: A review on their sensorial characteristics versus bioactivity as tool to select research. Eat Anacardium occidentale, Passiflora edulis and Acrocomia aculeata to be happiest. Seems very unadventurous, though.
Genetic differentiation in leaf phenology among natural populations of Adansonia digitata L. follows climatic clines. Anyone going to do this for all those Brazilian fruits?

August 13, 2018August 13, 2018

Brainfood: Rye genus, Purple carrots, Breed conservation contracts, Livestock breeding, USDA sweetpotatoes, Apple breeding, Olive breeding, Landrace nutrition, Trade and SDG 2.5, Medicinal legumes, Tea in China, Non-rhizobia, Fungal cryo, Barcoding NUS

Phylogeny and genetic structure in the genus Secale. The perennial species is different from the annuals, which are divided into an Asian and a non-Asia group and show all kinds of introgression.
Consumers’ acceptance of a local landrace: the case of purple carrots. Sure, if produced locally.
Saving the breeds: German Farmers’ preferences for Endangered Dairy Breed conservation programs. Sure, if they get paid.
Analysing innovations among cattle smallholders to evaluate the adequacy of breeding programs. Intensification will need more than selection within the local breed. But it’s a start.
Genetic diversity and population structure of the USDA sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas) germplasm collection using GBSpoly. 4 clusters: Central American, North American, South American, and others.
Updated review of potential medicinal genetic resources in the USDA, ARS, PGRCU industrial and legume crop germplasm collections. 22 species have potential.
Apple (Malus spp.) Breeding: Present and Future. It’s bright, apparently.
Strategies for Olive (Olea europaea L.) Breeding: Cultivated Genetic Resources and Crossbreeding. There’s an International Olive Council, and it has a Network of Germplasm Banks.
Genetic flow among olive populations within the Mediterranean basin. Separate Syrian and Algerian genepools.
Traditional farmers’ varieties: a valuable source of genetic variability for biofortification programs. Back to the future.
SDG 2.5: How Policies Affecting Trade and Markets Can Help Maintain Genetic Diversity. It’s possible, but not automatic.
Concept and protection of traditional knowledges in agricultural heritage system: a case study of Pu’er Traditional Tea Agrosystem. Based on 269 pieces of traditional knowledge, and in trouble.
Mining alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) nodules for salinity tolerant non-rhizobial bacteria to improve growth of alfalfa under salinity stress. They work even on their own.
Frozen fungi: cryogenic storage is an effective method to store Fusarium cultures for the long‐term. I guess will also work on the above?
DNA barcoding to promote social awareness and identity of neglected, underutilized plant species having valuable nutritional properties. Familiarity breeds contentment.

June 18, 2018June 18, 2018

Brainfood: Potato errors, Cryo maize, Fish ABS, Salamander poaching, Better niches, Diverse urban farms, Old growth, Space seeds, Breeding networks, Mating systems

Genetic Identity in Genebanks: Application of the SolCAP 12K SNP Array in Fingerprinting and Diversity Analysis in the Global In Trust Potato Collection. 11 mismatches between 250 original samples and their putative in vitro counterparts.
Maize seed cryo-storage modifies chlorophyll, carotenoid, protein, aldehyde and phenolics levels during early stages of germination. But do the effects last?
Sharing aquatic genetic resources across jurisdictions: playing ‘chicken’ in the sea. Fish resources need cooperative governance too.
Imminent extinction in the wild of the world’s largest amphibian. Because it’s a luxury food, believe it or not.
Community structure informs species geographic distributions. Include coexisting species in niche models for better results.
Increasing plant diversity with border crops reduces insecticide use and increases crop yield in urban agriculture. Planting soybeans, maize and vegetables around rice was bad for pests and good for profits in Shanghai.
Where are Europe’s last primary forests? Mountains, mainly.
Seeds in space. Orbiting Svalbard, anyone?
Resistance Genes in Global Crop Breeding Networks. Networks for cassava, potato, rice, and wheat “are clustered due to phytosanitary and intellectual property regulations, and linked through CGIAR hubs.”
Plant Mating Systems Often Vary Widely Among Populations. One estimate is never enough.