- Population structure of honey bees in the Carpathian Basin (Hungary) confirms introgression from surrounding subspecies. The Hungarian honeybee is holding its own. For now.
- Genetic Variability and Heritability Estimates of Nutritional Composition in the Leaves of Selected Cowpea Genotypes [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.]. Something else you can breed for.
- The Southwestern fringe of Europe as an important reservoir of caprine biodiversity. Local goat breeds in Spain and Portugal have few numbers, but much diversity, though in general weakly structured.
- Are you getting what you ordered from your genebank? Fingerprinting of the clonal potato and sweetpotato collections at the International Potato Center. Ahem. Maybe not.
- Seed exchange networks and food system resilience in the United States. Let my seeds go!
- Barnyard grasses were processed with rice around 10000 years ago. Rice had to fight it out with other wetland grasses to get domesticated.
- Whole genome re-sequencing of date palms yields insights into diversification of a fruit tree crop. Independent history in North Africa and the Middle East, but unclear if because of separate domestications or migration westward and introgression with local wild populations. Fruit colour genes the same as in oil palm.
- Pollinator conservation — The difference between managing for pollination services and preserving pollinator diversity. The point is that there’s a difference.
- Worse Comes to Worst: Bananas and Panama Disease—When Plant and Pathogen Clones Meet. TR4 is a single clone.
Nibbles: Tomato breeding, Cacao phylogeny, Moroccan fig landraces, Filipino homegardens, Neolithic honey, LandMark, I say queso
- Breeding for organic tomatoes needs to be participatory.
- Theobroma cacao is the oldest species within the genus.
- Threatened local fig varieties being promoted in Morocco.
- Teach a fisherman to garden…
- Neolithic people were consuming honey early, but not in the north of Europe.
- Interactive map showing lands managed by native communities.
- The oldest surviving document in spanish is a list of cheeses.
Nibbles: Apple duo, Biofortified lentil, Wild sweet potatoes, African supermarkets, Trees on farms, Botanic gardens history, Funny honey, Spice trade, Byzantine bread, Seed longevity, Edible wilds
- In remembrance of apples past.
- What makes for an “outstanding lentil“?
- Sweet potatoes finally get a taste of the wild.
- A tree for every season: ICRAF pushing trees both local and exotic.
- Can Zambian supermarkets support local farmers AND make money? Should get some of those tree products in there.
- Touring the oldest botanical gardens would make for a great round-the-world trip.
- Though I’d probably want to add a quick diversion to taste hallucinogenic honey in Nepal.
- ‘Twas pepper built Venice. That and bread.
- Defence-related genes important in seed longevity.
- What the heck are microgreens? And will they be discussed at the International Symposium on Biodiversity and Edible Wild Species in Turkey next November?
Nibbles: Drought maize, Forage Man, Coffee rescue, Herbarium workflow, Nutrient decline, Hybrid vines, Forest foods, Agrobiodiversity double, Bittman moves on
- So, how well did that Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa project do, anyway? Meeting to be held to find out. In the meantime, here’s the infographic.
- My friend Bob Reid gets an award for his contribution to forage genetic resources conservation and use.
- Finally doing something about arabica’s lack of diversity.
- Digitizing herbarium collections? There’s a workflow for that.
- Remember the good old days of nutritions veggies? “[A]ny real declines [in nutrient content] are generally most easily explained by changes in cultivated varieties.”
- “…what if hybrids were farmed as carefully & conscientiously as the finest vinifera grapes in a historical vineyard?”
- Wild foods from dry forests are good for you. Wet forest not totally useless either though.
- Bats, earthworms, enough of this biodiversity, we get it already.
- Bittman puts his money where his mouth is.
Nibbles: Weird veggies, National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation, Indian litchis, Colony Collapse Disorder
- Funky vegetables from around the world.
- Ft Collins genebank on CNN.
- India gets a litchi genebank. None of that in Ft Collins.
- Honeybees get help from museum collections.