- Ultra-processed foods should be central to global food systems dialogue and action on biodiversity. Should.
- Global plant diversity as a reservoir of micronutrients for humanity. As.
- Mainstreaming grain zinc and iron concentrations in CIMMYT wheat germplasm. Eventually.
- Utilization of Plant Genetic Resources of Bambara Groundnut Conserved Ex Situ and Genetic Diversification of Its Primary Genepool for Semi-Arid Production. Insufficient.
- More on seed longevity phenotyping. p50.
- Gender dynamics around introduction of improved forages in Kenya and Ethiopia. Training.
- Whole-Genome Resequencing of Worldwide Wild and Domestic Sheep Elucidates Genetic Diversity, Introgression, and Agronomically Important Loci. Hairy.
- Jersey cattle in Africa: From the Breed’s Documented Past to a Profit IndexLinked Future. Promising?
- A generalist–specialist trade-off between switchgrass cytotypes impacts climate adaptation and geographic range. Polyploidy!
- Decentralized Seed Services in Africa. Quality.
- The Rise of Wine among Ancient Civilizations across the Mediterranean Basin. Ritual.
- Genome Analysis Traces Regional Dispersal of Rice in Taiwan and Southeast Asia. Ok, I give up, I can’t do this. Austronesian speakers did not spread out of Taiwan because of rice. If you can summarize that in a word, I’m impressed, so let me know.
An apple story a day…
Well, that’s odd. The rush of stories about apples usually happens in the autumn. And yet, just in the past couple of days, quite apart from the tweet about Korbinian Aigner, I have come across:
- An excellent roundup from the Apples & People newsletter.
- A pointer to a webpage on the history of American apples.
- News of newly-bred hypoallergenic varieties.
Oh, and since I have you here, might as well also say that there’s been an update from GRIN-U. No new resources specifically on apples lately, but there’s been a few in the past.
New online training in plant genetic resources
An important announcement from Patrick F. Byrne, Professor Emeritus of Plant Breeding and Genetics at Colorado State University.
- Three 1-credit graduate level courses will be available online from Colorado State University in Fall semester, 2022. The courses deal with the origins and structure of plant genetic diversity; the principles and methods for conserving that diversity; and strategies for using genetic resources in plant breeding. The courses, costs, and registration information are described at http://pgrcourse.colostate.edu/ and a flyer is attached to this message.
- A number of new learning materials are available on the GRIN-U repository (https://grin-u.org/). These include videos on cowpea, sorghum, tomato, and potato; virtual tour videos of USDA’s National Laboratory for Genetic Resources Preservation; ebooks on crop wild relatives and a crop science virtual field tour; and infographics explaining USDA’s National Plant Germplasm System and the role of botanic gardens in conserving plant genetic resources. The videos are also available on the YouTube channel youtube.com/GRINUEducation. We hope these materials are useful to you in your teaching or outreach activities.
- We are looking for success stories on the use of plant genetic resources for plant breeding or plant genetics research. If you have a story to tell, please consider filling out and submitting the attached template.
The materials described here were funded by a grant from the USDA-NIFA Higher Education Challenge Grant Program to Colorado State University, Iowa State University, and USDA-ARS.
Nibbles: CIAT genebank, Rome food museum, Sea farming, Hemp, Community seed bank, Indian MAPs
- CIAT’s new genebank is a real looker.
- Rome’s new cooking museum sounds like fun.
- Give seaweed salad a chance.
- What the hell is happening with hemp in the US?
- The College of the Rockies really wants to put its genebank to work for the local community.
- NBPGR building awareness of the importance of medicinal and aromatic plants in Arunachal Pradesh.
Nibbles: Crop change, Chinese chocolate, Food system, Eating local, Heritage wheat, NTFPs, Distinguished ethnobotanist, Pumpkins, Garum recipe, Fermentation, Archaea, NBPGR interview
- IFAD says farmers might need to change crops. Farmers unavailable for comment as presumably they’re too busy changing crops.
- Case in point: China moves into cacao.
- The food system is at the centre of all our ills. But I’m not sure switching from maize to sorghum is going to cut it.
- And neither will watching those food miles, alas.
- Example of a farmer changing crops, watching food miles and diversifying the food system.
- I suppose we could also just eat more trees?
- We’ll need ethnobotanists for that.
- And there’s clearly plenty of pumpkins out there.
- Maybe garum would go well with some of those NTFPs, and pumpkins.
- Do they teach garum at Fermentation School?
- Whoa, I did not realize archaea in the vertebrate gut feed on bacterial fermentation products.
- And let’s not forget to put everything in genebanks before it’s too late so we have a chance to do all of the above.