- Today’s Nibbles is a Kenya edition. Just because.
- But we’ll start with an African foodie revolution that is passing that country by.
- Cattle need diverse foods too, so don’t neglect those forbs, Kenyans.
- A young Kenyan turns to vegetable growing. Not, alas, of the traditional kind. Yet.
- Well, he better get a move on, because it says here people are after his seeds.
- Seeds are what the traditional medicine industry could do with.
- I guess there’s always litchis.
- Wonder what they’ll do to land use patterns.
- But will there ever be perennial sorghum?
Nibbles: FAO Commission, Alpine plants conference, Young breeders, Indian sorghum, Pastoralists in the media, Neglected genomics, More quinoa, Cape Gooseberry in Europe, Database hell, Tomayto tomahto, Maple syrup, Double cropping, Cloning trees, Belated Earth Day, UK Plant Science Week
- Summary of that 14th Session of the CGRFA we were all following last week.
- Conferences on “Changes in alpine and arctic flora under climate change” we’ll all be following in September. If you’re from Balkans, Caucasus, Central Asia, the organizers need you in particular. But hurry, before it’s too late!
- In other news, young scientists are into beer.
- India’s Directorate of Sorghum Research gets a genebank. Relationship with NBPGR unclear.
- Media portrayals of pastoralists in Kenya, China and India: The Report. The Brief. The Press Release. ILRI reaction?
- Neglected crops get the genomic treatment. And why that might be a good thing.
- CIAT wades in on quinoa.
- Call for information on Physalis peruviana cultivation in Europe.
- Biodiversity databases have errors! Shock! Horror! Probe!
- The nutritional difference between organic and conventional tomatoes deconstructed.
- Your maple sugaring questions answered. Nice idea.
- Double crop for development. I guess that’s the sustainable intensification everyone is talking so much about.
- If in doubt, clone it!
- Wait, wait, wait, we missed Earth Day?
- And also a bunch of UK plant science conferences. (I had of course linked to the storifications here originally, but they’ve gone now of course.)
Brainfood: Viruses, Allium genomic size, Acacia adaptation, Local carp, Chinese onions, Bull genetic info, Ecosystem services, Sahelian ag
- New threats to endangered Cook’s scurvy grass (Lepidium oleraceum; Brassicaceae): introduced crop viruses and the extent of their spread. Introduced crop virus threatens endemic.
- Role of adaptive and non-adaptive mechanisms forming complex patterns of genome size variation in six cytotypes of polyploid Allium oleraceum (Amaryllidaceae) on a continental scale. It’s not the environment.
- Evolution and ecology meet molecular genetics: adaptive phenotypic plasticity in two isolated Negev desert populations of Acacia raddiana at either end of a rainfall gradient. It’s the environment.
- Using biodiversity to valorise local food products: the case of fish ponds in a cultural landscape, their biodiversity, and carp production. It could work, if only people liked to eat carp and knew what biodiversity was.
- Phenotype and genetic diversity in potato onion cultivars from three provinces of northeast China. In other news, there’s something called a potato onion. Otherwise, this is actually a deeply boring paper.
- The value of genetic information to livestock buyers: a combined revealed, stated preference approach. Low to none, for now.
- Ecosystem Services. Latest issue includes a bunch of interesting reviews, and an editorial summarizing each in like a paragraph. Great service, great value. See what I did there?
- Scientific documentation of crop land changes in the Sahel: A half empty box of knowledge to support policy? There is no data, not really.
Nibbles: Cuba, Food production, Saffron κρόκος, Rice breeding, Coffee,
- Bioversity reports on a meeting to plan research on agroecology in Cuba.
- “Global food production is increasing steadily, and the global food supply is becoming more stable”. Nothing to see, move along.
- Greeks just wild about saffron.
- And rice researchers crazy about wild rice as source of salt tolerance.
- On the road with Kew photographer, seeking clues to climate change and coffee. (p.s. I’m pretty certain the “magnificent wild banana tree” is a magnificent wild enset herb) (p.p.s. There are actually lots of silly little mistakes in the piece. Buck up, Kew.)
Nibbles: Artichokes and bracts, Colour, DsG and experts, Fish, Genetics, Horseradish, Improved nutrition, Kenyan sorghum, Plant Press
- A is for artichoke, B is for bract. A botanist in the kitchen explains.
- C is for colour and color, both of which affect the nutritional value of rice.
- D is for Directorate of the EU, three of which are at a standstill as an expert is apparently blocking all attempts to loosen EU seed laws.
- F is for fish, which smart farmers are helping to survive low water in rice paddies.
- G is for the genes tweaked by scientists to deliver seeds without sex.
- H is for horseradish, whose root problems can now be solved. In other H-related news, horseradish has root problems.
- I is for improvements in child nutrition and less stunting is many countries.
- J is for Jeremy, who must have some time on his hands.
- K is for Kenya, where clever scientists have created Striga-resistant sorghum. Again.
- L is for Lodoicea, and other botanical treasures.