- Crop domestication: anthropogenic effects on insect–plant interactions in agroecosystems. Domestication can upset trophic webs. Poor dears.
- The soybean experiment ‘1000 Gardens’: a case study of citizen science for research, education, and beyond. 2492 gardens, in fact.
- The evolutionary road from wild moth to domestic silkworm. Domestication in China, followed by multiple independent spreads and differentiation.
- Barley heads east: Genetic analyses reveal routes of spread through diverse Eurasian landscapes. 3 taxa, 8 genepools, multiple routes for spread. A bit like silkworm but in the opposite direction.
- A spatial overview of the global importance of Indigenous lands for conservation. 40% of all terrestrial protected areas.
- Maize domestication and gene interaction. More than just the headline 5 genes.
- Hallauer’s Tusón: a decade of selection for tropical-to-temperate phenological adaptation in maize. Need to go back to tropical germplasm for adaptation to temperate conditions.
- Moving beyond calories and protein: Micronutrient assessment of UK diets and land use. Roots, tubers and vegetables are the most land-efficient producers of 23 nutrients.
- The legacy of 4,500 years of polyculture agroforestry in the eastern Amazon. It is still with us.
- Direct archaeological evidence for Southwestern Amazonia as an early plant domestication and food production centre. And not just in the east.
- Does women’s time in domestic work and agriculture affect women’s and children’s dietary diversity? Evidence from Bangladesh, Nepal, Cambodia, Ghana, and Mozambique. Yes, but varies with socioeconomic status.
- Remap: An online remote sensing application for land cover classification and monitoring. Use your training set to detect habitat type(s) in Google Earth.
- Archaeobotanical evidence reveals the origins of bread 14,400 years ago in northeastern Jordan. Before domestication.
- Drought tolerance during reproductive development is important for increasing wheat yield potential under climate change in Europe. The good news is that germplasm close to the optimized ideotype for 2050 is already out there.
Brainfood: African rice domestication, Barley evaluation, Al & sorghum, Potato seed systems, Yield trends, Arachis resynthesis, Potato breeding, Lupinus evolution, Helianthus invasiveness, Wild cassava, Beaked maize return, Amaranth breeding, Vegetables, American dogs
- The Rise and Fall of African Rice Cultivation Revealed by Analysis of 246 New Genomes. Domesticated in northern Mali as a result of the decline of wild species due to the drying of the Sahara.
- Unlocking historical phenotypic data from an ex situ collection to enhance the informed utilization of genetic resources of barley (Hordeum sp.). Don’t throw away that historical data from regenerations.
- Exploiting sorghum genetic diversity for enhanced aluminum tolerance: Allele mining based on the AltSB locus. It’s more prevalent in guinea sorghums.
- Unearthing unevenness of potato seed networks in the high Andes: a comparison of distinct cultivar groups and farmer types following seasons with and without acute stress. Potatoes are not just potatoes. And farmers are not just farmers.
- Global patterns of crop yield stability under additional nutrient and water inputs. Higher variability in yield expected under higher fertilizer inputs.
- Segmental allopolyploidy in action: Increasing diversity through polyploid hybridization and homoeologous recombination. Domesticating peanuts, the right way this time.
- Applications of New Breeding Technologies for Potato Improvement. Humble no more?
- Pleistocene glacial cycles drive isolation, gene flow and speciation in the high‐elevation Andes. In Lupinus, phylogeny does not recapitulate orogeny.
- Evolution of invasiveness by genetic accommodation. In a crop wild relative, no less.
- Manihot takape sp. nov. (Euphorbiaceae), a new tuberous subshrub from the Paraguayan Chaco. A crop wild relative too.
- Back to beaked: Zea mays subsp. mays Rostrata Group in northern Italy, refugia and revival of open-pollinated maize landraces in an intensive cropping system. Title of the week. Alternative: Polenta Power.
- From zero to hero: the past, present and future of grain amaranth breeding. Runner up.
- Issues and Prospects for the Sustainable Use and Conservation of Cultivated Vegetable Diversity for More Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture. Still neglected.
- The evolutionary history of dogs in the Americas. They came over from Siberia with people, rather than evolving from local wolves, but all that’s left of them is a cancer.
Brainfood: Phenotyping, Genotyping, Perennial Hordeum, Communicating PGRFA, Participatory breeding, Sri Lankan homegardens, Traditional Slovak landscapes, Ecosystem services, LWR double, African cassava, Labelling fish
- Translating High-Throughput Phenotyping into Genetic Gain. More to it than cool drones. Although those are not to be sneezed at.
- A guide to sequence your favorite plant genomes. Someone may already have what you need.
- Towards the Development of Perennial Barley for Cold Temperate Climates—Evaluation of Wild Barley Relatives as Genetic Resources. H. bulbosum is the best bet. So far.
- Communicating plant genetic resources for food and agriculture to the public — A study of grant-receivers with demonstration-projects in the Danish Rural Development Programme. It can be done.
- Farmers’ participatory selection of new rice varieties to boost production under temperate agro-ecosystems. It can be done.
- Assessing the Impacts of Agrobiodiversity Maintenance on Food Security Among Farming Households in Sri Lanka’s Dry Zone. Help the poor.
- Contribution of Traditional Farming to Ecosystem Services Provision: Case Studies from Slovakia. Traditional systems more diverse and balanced in provision of ecosystem services than intensive modern systems. The problem is that pesky production service. Yeah, but about that…
- Bright spots in agricultural landscapes: Identifying areas exceeding expectations for multifunctionality and biodiversity. Small is beautiful.
- Why should we save the wild relatives of domesticated animals? Because we can.
- Tracking trends in the extinction risk of wild relatives of domesticated species to assess progress against global biodiversity targets. And because we should.
- Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) diversity of cassava genotypes in relation to cassava brown streak disease in Mozambique. Some Mozambican landraces are very similar to resistant Tanzanian landraces.
- Generic names and mislabeling conceal high species diversity in global fisheries markets. DNA barcoding reveals that 300 “snapper” samples are in fact 67 species from disparate fisheries. Use Latin names, folks!
Brainfood: Italian hotspots, Spanish apples, ICRISAT proso, Scattered trees, Underutilized Malaysian fruit, Saudi chickens, AnGR, Double dates, European threatened plants, Pepper origins, Intensification outcomes, Breeding & diversity, Cold storage, African rice
- A methodological approach to identify agro-biodiversity hotspots for priority in situ conservation of plant genetic resources. Interestingly, the centre of Italy comes out on top.
- Genetic diversity and core collection of Malus × domestica in northwestern Spain, Portugal and the Canary Islands by SSRs. There is material in common between Galicia and the Canary Islands.
- Diversity and trait-specific sources for productivity and nutritional traits in the global proso millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) germplasm collection. Out of 200, 26 were high in at least 2 nutrients.
- The importance of scattered trees for biodiversity conservation: A global meta‐analysis. It’s pretty high.
- Origin and diversity of an underutilized fruit tree crop, cempedak (Artocarpus integer, Moraceae). The germplasm collections are not too bad, at least for the cultivated form.
- Genetic diversity of Saudi native chicken breeds segregating for naked neck and frizzle genes using microsatellite markers. The 6 breeds are diverse and show no inbreeding. Yet.
- Conservation of breeds and maintenance of biodiversity: justification and methodology for the conservation of Animal Genetic Resources. Ah, so that’s why they did the above.
- What are palm groves of Phoenix? Conservation of Phoenix palm groves in the European Union. Feral can still be useful.
- Date Palm Agrobiodiversity (Phoenix dactylifera L.) in Siwa Oasis, Egypt: Combining Ethnography, Morphometry, and Genetics. Some locally recognized and named types are in fact collections of genetically distinct clones that somehow go together anyway: call them “ethnovarieties” if you wish. But not feral.
- How to meet the 2020 GSPC target 8 in Europe: priority-setting for seed banking of native threatened plants. 62.7% of European threatened species are already in genebanks, but the others won’t collect themselves. No word on what to do about dates.
- Evolutionary history of the chili pepper Capsicum baccatum L. (Solanaceae): domestication in South America and natural diversification in the Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests. Probably originated in Bolivian Amazonia and inter-Andean valleys.
- Social-ecological outcomes of agricultural intensification. Win-wins are like hen’s teeth.
- Plant breeding and diversity: A troubled relationship? There may be another bottleneck coming.
- Rapid loss of seed viability in ex situ conserved wheat and barley at 4°C as compared to −20°C storage. 4°C is not cold enough for long-term conservation.
- Genetic control of seed shattering during African rice domestication. Multiple genes lead to a range of non-shattering phenotypes.
Nibbles: Cordillera rice, Farmer seed, Toddy audio essay, Eat This Newsletter, Coconut conservation, Australian genebank, Sweet potato diversification, Mungbean income, NERICA impact, Bing cherry, TFP, Conservation evidence, NordGen matters
- Conserving heirloom rice in the Philippines.
- A seed production company run by farmers.
- Tapping toddy. With audio goodness.
- Lots of goodness in Jeremy’s latest newsletter.
- Australia gets serious about coconut conservation in the Pacific and beyond.
- Australia’s own genebanks are very serious. Oh yes indeedy.
- Will sweet potatoes get young people into farming in Kenya? If my nephews are anything to go by, the answer, alas, is no.
- Maybe they should try mungbeans.
- Or NERICA.
- The Bing cherry didn’t help Ah Bing much though.
- Whatever the crop, it’s total factor productivity that you have to watch for.
- And then don’t forget to include whatever intervention you come up with in subject-wide evidence synthesis.
- Prize for best title of the week: “Nordic cooperation on genetic resources – what’s the point?” Nice video.