- Seed saving at IPK handed over.
- Why Bambara groundnut needs saving.
- Kenyan women get together to save seeds.
- Saving seeds in the Atacama Desert.
- Saving wheat and vines in Georgia.
Brainfood: Genebanks edition
- Seed collection and processing practices affect subsequent seed storage longevity in durum wheat and wild relatives. Immature seeds can still usefully be harvested for long-term storage of properly handled.
- Two-step drying of soya bean seed germplasm often improves subsequent storage longevity. “Proper handling” includes drying at higher temperatures.
- Seed-stored transcript integrity as a molecular indicator of viability in conserved common bean germplasm. mRNA degradation predicts loss of seed viability.
- Developing a cryopreservation protocol for the conservation of coconut palm (Cocos nucifera L.) using a novel type of explant, meristematic clumps. Who needs seeds anyway?
- Pollen cryobanking at the USDA-ARS National Laboratory for Genetic Resources Preservation. Well, who needs meristematic clumps?
- Mapping pea seed composition through strategic selection of accessions from the Nordic gene bank. Image analysis can be used to maximise diversity in nutritional composition in pea seeds, thus facilitating use of genebank collections. Can’t do that with pollen, I suspect.
- A small-scale assessment of the availability of EURISCO accessions. Facilitating use needs all the help it can get.
- Strengthening national genebanks through genomics and regional collaboration: Lessons from Latin America and the Caribbean. I guess genomics capacity could help with use.
- Enhancing farmers’ access and use of conserved germplasm for improved food security and climate resilience: The case of sorghum at Kenya’s national genebank. Genomics unavailable for comment. Farmers, on the other hand….
- Linking the ICRISAT Genebank to Poverty Reduction and Welfare in Malawi. Facilitating use by farmers is important.
- Farmers as breeders and seed producers: Insights from 30 years of scaling up seed clubs in Vietnam. It’s super cool when farmers organize. Including for genebanks.
- Elephant ear yam Xanthosoma robustum Schott (Araceae), a neglected crop native to Central America. Needs more attention from genebanks. And farmers and their clubs for that matter.
- Plant genebank of Sudan: Towards recovery from the wreckage of war to a new era of further capacity development based on lessons learnt from similar situations. We must de-risk genebanks. Wouldn’t want to lose all those elephant ear yam collections we’ll be making.
Brainfood: Crop (species) diversity edition
- Small farms contribute a third of the food consumed in high-income nations. And those small farms are disproportionately diverse…
- The Global Spatial Co-Variation Between Crop Diversity and Landscape Heterogeneity. …and crop diversity on farms goes with landscape diversity.
- Beyond Crop Hotspots: Why Overlooked Marginal Agricultural Lands Deserve Urgent Attention. I’m willing to bet landscape diversity is often associated with marginality, but that’s not the end of the world.
- Food Biodiversity and its Association with Diet Quality and Health Outcomes-A Scoping Review. Why should we care about diverse farms? Because diversity in your food is associated with nutritional adequacy, a reduced risk of mortality, or a reduced risk of gastrointestinal cancers. Ok, I know, I missed a step there. There was nothing in the past few weeks in the literature specifically linking farm diversity and food diversity, but you know the link is there. At least sometimes.
- Long-term agricultural diversification increases financial profitability, biodiversity, and ecosystem services: a second-order meta-analysis. Diversity on farms is not just good for (ok, maybe) diets.
- Global evidence that plant diversity suppresses pests and promotes plant performance and crop production. Another way farm diversity is useful is via pest control. Well, actually, this could count as an ecosystem service, and so an example of the above.
- Ecological drivers of intercropping performance for enhanced global crop production. Ah, that explains how those farm ecosystem services actually works.
- Crop rotations synergize yield, nutrition, and revenue: a meta-analysis. Rotations are diversification too, and good for you too.
- Revitalizing orphan crops to combat food insecurity. But of course the diversification strategy de jour is opportunity crops.
- Value chain research and development: The quest for impact. And for that revolution to happen, we’ll need a better grip on value chains.
- Cultural innovation can increase and maintain biodiversity: A case study from medieval Europe. Yes, agricultural revolution can lead to increased biodiversity.
- Household vegetable agro-biodiversity in northern Vietnam requires diversity in seed sources. Any revolution is going to need good sources of good seeds though.
Nibbles: Ukraine duplication, Mexican native maize, Andean agriculture double, Campanian crops double, Pacific cryobank, Moringa promotion
- A little more safety for Ukraine’s seeds, thanks to a new genebank.
- A little more safety for Mexico’s native maize, thanks to Pres. Sheinbaum.
- A little more safety for Andean agriculture, thanks to Ecuadorian Indigenous women and Inside Mater in Peru.
- A little more safety for Ischia’s zampognaro bean and Amalfi’s lemons, thanks to local people (and GIAHS).
- A little more safety for Pacific crops, thanks to cryopreservation. Breadfruit next?
- A little more safety for moringa? At least in Africa with all its “opportunity crops”?
Brainfood: Breeding edition
- Unlocking the potential of wild rice to bring missing nutrition to elite grains. A solution for better nutrition.
- Characterization of Oryza glaberrima derived genetic resources for stagnant flooding tolerance in interspecific rice pre-breeding populations. A solution for too much water.
- Strengthening Global Rice Germplasm Sharing: Insights from the INGER Platform. A solution for getting the above solutions out to those who need them.
- Comprehensive nutritional and antinutritional characterization of pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan): Insights into genotypic diversity and protein quality. A solution for better protein.
- Exploring the agro-morphological performance of mini core collection of finger millet [Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn] germplasm under sodic condition. A solution for high sodium in soils.
- A Public Private Partnership in Plant Breeding — The Case of Irish Malting Barley. A solution for Irish malt.
- The business case for grasspea in Ethiopia: An action plan to provide Ethiopian farmers with a safe, nutritious and climate-smart protein source. A solution for ODAP. Which will still need to be sold, though.
- Harnessing historical genebank data to accelerate pea breeding. A solution for cold, and more.
- Genetic basis of phenotypic diversity in C. stenophylla: a stepping stone for climate-adapted coffee cultivar development. A solution for heat.
- A phylogenetic approach to prioritising crop wild relatives in Brassiceae (Brassicaceae) for breeding applications. A solution for finding solutions.