Tourism

October 29, 2011October 29, 2011

Goat weight competitions in Pakistan

I can’t resist sharing this message which Prof. Dr. Muhammad Sajjad Khan sent to DAD-Net yesterday.

News of the hour is that new weight record of a goat is now 291 kg. This was accomplished in the weight competitions just held during the last one hour here at Faisalabad (Pakistan). The Buck belonged to Beetal breed and strain was Faisalabadi. Some of you might know that last year’s record was 280 kg and some people did not believe that it could be broken. See the potential. The 2nd and 3rd position holders were not far away (289.5 and 289 kg). Weight competitions for goats are held every year here at Faisalabad before the Eid festival. For younger bucks (less than 2 teeth, completions are expected to be completed on Sunday, the 30th Oct. Will share the photos and details. The beauty, weight and milk competitions at individual and flock level are expected to be completed by Monday. I will post the photos soon. University of Agriculture Faisalabad (Pakistan) is organizing these competitions and among others, GEF-UNEP-ILRI Asia project is one of the co-sponsors.

Can’t wait for those photos…

October 27, 2011October 27, 2011

Nibbles: Cuba gardens, Dual purpose pumpkins, GRIN-Global, Wheat belly, Agroforestry, Zambian malnutrition, Libyan agriculture, Certification

Visit Cuba with boffins of the University of Washington Botanic Gardens. Well that sounds like fun.
You liked naked oats? Get a load of naked pumpkins. Comments disabled for Manitoba farmers.
Psst, wanna genebank data management system? Only slightly used…
Something else you can blame your beer belly on: wheat.
Have your forest and eat it too.
Solving malnutrition in Zambia. I wanna know more about those “improved seed varieties.”
And about these too for that matter: “…ICARDA is urgently sending to Libya seeds of wheat, barley, legume and forage crops for the 2011-2012 cropping season…” Incidentally, any news about the Agricultural Research Centre in Tripoli?
Forest certification helps nearby Heritage Sites.

October 26, 2011October 27, 2011

The hottest conference of the year

The 21st International Pepper Conference is coming up. Well, sort of, it’s in a year’s time, November 4-6, 2012 in Naples, Florida, USA. I wonder if self-described seed capitalist and Tabasco aficionado Tom Adlam will go. Or at the very least “friend” the Facebook page. No sign of a blog, though, which is increasingly de rigueur these days at conferences, nor a Twitter hashtag. Early days, I guess. However, you can already sign up, clunkily, for an email newsletter.

October 24, 2011

Nibbles: Bourdeix, Early ag, Amaranthus in beer

Dr Roland Bourdeix is the new COGENT Coordinator.
Early American hunter-gatherers ate maize.
Dogfish Head crowdsources a new beer. And it’s got NUS. Rejoice.

October 24, 2011October 19, 2011

Brainfood: Football nutrition, Sorghum markers, Alpine herb, Gap analysis, Evolutionary breeding, Aphids, Birds and farmland, Cameroon forests

Nutrition and culture in professional football: A mixed method approach. Footballers need a more diverse diet. Well, kinda. I just wanted to get this paper in here because wouldn’t it be cool if we could get Lionel Messi to talk about agrobiodiversity-rich diets?
Diversity analysis using ISSR markers for resistance to shoot pests in sorghum. There may be a diversity of resistance mechanisms.
Domestication of Alpine blue-sow-thistle (Cicerbita alpina (L.) Wallr.): six year trial results. I know. Why would you want to, right? Takes all sorts to make a diverse diet, I guess. Maybe we can get Lionel Messi to eat it?
Improving representativeness of genebank collections through species distribution models, gap analysis and ecogeographical maps. Fancy GIS-based prioritization results in more, better germplasm collecting. Nice to have the data.
Evolutionary Plant Breeding in Cereals—Into a New Era. Martin Wolfe and colleagues lay it on the line; why it is a good idea, and what the obstacles are.
Genetic interactions influence host preference and performance in a plant-insect system. Aphids and barleys have genetic preferences for one another.
Pasture area and landscape heterogeneity are key determinants of bird diversity in intensively managed farmland. As in the northern hemisphere, so too in Argentina.
Tree diversity and conservation value of Ngovayang’s lowland forests, Cameroon. Both high, and I’m betting some economically important trees are among them.