Policy

September 14, 2021September 14, 2021

Feeling even better about crop wild relatives

The publication of “Legacy genetics of Arachis cardenasii in the peanut crop shows the profound benefits of international seed exchange” in PNAS rang a faint bell:

Here, we uncover the contribution of one wild species accession, Arachis cardenasii GKP 10017, to the peanut crop (Arachis hypogaea) that was initiated by complex hybridizations in the 1960s and propagated by international seed exchange.

And yes, it turns out we had blogged about this wild peanut species more than a decade ago, in Another feel-good crop wild relative story.

Some things have changed since 2008, I’m happy to say. I seem to have had some difficulty pulling together data ¹ at the time, whereas Genesys had no trouble at all showing me 45 accessions. And GKP 10017 even has a DOI now.

September 13, 2021August 31, 2021

Brainfood: Mapping double, Niche modelling, CGIAR impacts, Pathogen genebank, Data stewardship, Breeding tradeoffs, Organic vs conventional, Agronomic trials, Teff evaluation, Eggplant genetic resources, Quinoa phenotyping

Conservation needs to break free from global priority mapping. Couldn’t agree more. And less.
National climate and biodiversity strategies are hamstrung by a lack of maps. Wait, what?
The evolutionary genomics of species’ responses to climate change. You need to combine niche modelling with genetic adaptation to get the best maps.
Payoffs to a half century of CGIAR research. A benefit-to-cost ratio (BCR) of 10:1. Not counting the genebanks. And all the maps.
A case for conserving plant pathogens. But will it be worth it?
Poor data stewardship will hinder global genetic diversity surveillance. What’s the BCR for decent metadata?
Mitigating tradeoffs in plant breeding. Cutting out the cross-talk changes tradeoff to payoff.
Comparing Productivity of Organic and Conventional Farming Systems: A Quantitative Review. Conventional is more productive. But should yield be the only criterion?
Priority micronutrient density in foods. Right. Micronutrients are also important.
Reconciling yield gains in agronomic trials with returns under African smallholder conditions. And how was yield measured anyway?
Data-driven, participatory characterization of traditional farmer varieties discloses teff (Eragrostis tef) adaptive and breeding potential under current and future climates. This might well be an example of applying the lessons of the above.
Genetic Diversity and Utilization of Cultivated Eggplant Germplasm in Varietal Improvement. The wild relatives will save us.
Quinoa Phenotyping Methodologies: An International Consensus. But will it work for the wild relatives? Just kidding, this is an important development for another crop (with the above) which doesn’t have something like the CGIAR and its 10:1 BCR behind it…

September 10, 2021September 10, 2021

Nibbles: Luxury brands, Food companies, TV and diets, Saving seeds, IUCN Green Status, 0 Hunger Pledge, Zizania

Luxury brands discover biodiversity: “There is no champagne without grapes, no ready-to-wear without silk and cotton, no perfume without flowers…”
What about global food and agriculture companies though? Let’s find out, shall we?
TV can help where companies won’t.
Of course, you can set up your own company, as these Tunisian women did.
Imagine a company helping to move a species to “green status.” Imagine.
They could sign the Zero Hunger Pledge for the Private Sector while they’re at it.
But meanwhile, on Ojibwe land…

September 6, 2021August 31, 2021

Brainfood: Extreme events, Hot livestock, Decentralized breeding, Rice evaluation, Maize relatives double, Peanut hybrids, Tanzanian cassava, Microbiome, Brassica pests, Hop terroir, Beer taste

Extreme climate events increase risk of global food insecurity and adaptation needs. Factoring in climate variability shows that just considering the change in the average climate underestimates the food security hit.
Increases in extreme heat stress in domesticated livestock species during the twenty-first century. And the hit is already landing.
Data-driven decentralized breeding increases prediction accuracy in a challenging crop production environment. What we therefore need is 3-D breeding.
Novel Sources of Pre-Harvest Sprouting Resistance for Japonica Rice Improvement. Including for resistance to pre-harvest sprouting in rice due to unexpected typhoons.
The genome of stress tolerant crop wild relative Paspalum vaginatum leads to increased biomass productivity in the crop Zea mays. For sure crop wild relatives are going to help.
Megabase-scale presence-absence variation with Tripsacum origin was under selection during maize domestication and adaptation. If they haven’t helped already.
Registration of three peanut allotetraploid interspecific hybrids resistant to late leaf spot disease and tomato spotted wilt. Sometimes you need multiple CWR.
Collection, genotyping and virus elimination of cassava landraces from Tanzania and documentation of farmer knowledge. But landraces too will come in handy, especially if farmers’ knowledge is properly documented.
Prioritizing host phenotype to understand microbiome heritability in plants. And don’t forget the microbiome.
Economic analysis of habitat manipulation in Brassica pest management: Wild plant species suppress cabbage webworm. Not to mention the ecosystem as a whole.
Relevance of hop terroir for beer flavour. Oh hell, I give up, time for a craft beer.
On the Trail of the German Purity Law: Distinguishing the Metabolic Signatures of Wheat, Corn and Rice in Beer. Maybe even a weissbier.

September 2, 2021September 6, 2021

Nibbles: Eat This Newsletter, Basmati, DSI, NBPGR collecting, Ganja page

Jeremy’s latest newsletter covers in more depth things we just Nibbled here, including perry and ancient bananas, plus much other stuff. We talked about “wild rice” here a couple of times.
As for actual rice, the controversy between India and Pakistan about the origin of Basmati just got a bit more complicated. Could it in fact have come from Afghanistan?
Maybe everyone should listen to Dr Amber Scholz’s ideas about ABS.
Meanwhile, India’s National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources regional centre in Kumaon has been busy collecting germplasm. No word on whether that includes rice, Basmati or otherwise.
Pretty cool way of presenting accession data, courtesy of Mystery Haze. I wonder where that’s from originally.