- Identification and diversity of Y‐chromosome haplotypes in Qinghai yak populations. 2 paternal lineages but weak genetic structure among the 9 populations and 3 breeds.
- Development and characterization of Triticum turgidum–Aegilops umbellulata amphidiploids. A bridge to bread wheat.
- Variation in total root length and root diameter of wild and cultivated lentil grown under drought and re-watered conditions. Some wild species have longer total root length under drought stress than crops. No word on whether bridges needed.
- The Peril of Gene-Targeted Conservation. Only warranted when said targeted genes are important for viability and have large phenotypic effects. Suspect crop breeders (see above) may beg to differ.
- Conservation of biodiversity in the genomics era. Need to target the whole genome, I guess.
- “What Matters Is Species Richness” — High School Students’ Understanding of the Components of Biodiversity. Must try harder.
- What Conservation Does. The right things, more or less, and not at all badly, so stop complaining.
- Absence of evidence for the conservation outcomes of systematic conservation planning around the globe: a systematic map. It’s not evidence of absence of conservation outcomes, but still. Maybe should get together with the above?
- East African diploid and triploid bananas: a genetic complex transported from South-East Asia. All introduced by Austronesian people, probably via Madagascar, but no longer to be found in Asia (much).
- Molecular and Cytogenetic Study of East African Highland Banana. Focuses on one of the 4 groups discussed in the above (Mutika). All derived from maybe a single hybrid clone.
- Sources of resistance to Xanthomonas campestris pv. musacearum, the causal agent of banana Xanthomonas wilt. Why bother with the above, you ask?
- Genetic diversity of day-neutral converted landrace Gossypium hirsutum L. accessions. Eastern and western hemisphere groups, with US varieties closer to the eastern.
- Crop Domestication Alters Floral Reward Chemistry With Potential Consequences for Pollinator Health. In highbush blueberry, domestication has decreased the chemical diversity of nectar and pollen, possibly increasing infection by bee gut pathogens.
- Ancient DNA analysis of Scandinavian medieval drinking horns and the horn of the last aurochs bull. Aurochs interbred with domestic cattle way back. In other news, you can extract aurochs DNA from medieval Scandinavian drinking horns.
- The USDA cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) collection: genetic diversity, population structure, genome-wide association studies, and core collection development. Three groups, more or less: India, E. Asia, and everything else. A third of 1200 accessions recovers 96% of variation.
- Rapid improvement of domestication traits in an orphan crop by genome editing. Tomato orthologues in groundcherry mutated for more fruits and better plant architecture.
- Domestication of wild tomato is accelerated by genome editing. Or you can do it with the actual tomato genes. As suggested a couple of years ago.
Nibbles: Banana leaf wilt, EIB, Wheat rust, NUS, Amazon conservation, Snakes & carob, Global farmers, Spud genes
- Bananas resistant to bacterial wilt found at last.
- The Ethiopian genebank gets the very cool Atlas Obscura treatment.
- It needs a helping hand, though. Technology to the rescue in wheat rust management.
- Diversify your diet, why don’t you.
- Giving standing trees value in the Amazon. Great drone shots too.
- Carob trees have value in Cyprus.
- Also nice pix in this Guardian photo essay on how farmers fight climate change.
- Genotyping the CIP collection. That includes the humble potato, of course.
Nibbles: Lathyrus project, Vegetables review, Aztec linguistics, Tree seeds, Ancient booze
- Grasspea gets some love.
- Hundreds of veggies still don’t, though.
- Deconstructing chocolate. The word, that is.
- Networking tree seeds in Rwanda.
- Drinking in Neolithic Britain.
Brainfood: NUS crackers, Genomic prediction, Chicken double, Wild German celery, Cretan sheep, Boricua papaya, Sorghum breeding, Wheat breeding, Italian carrots, Mining barley, Onion review, Fertilizers
- Development of value-added nutritious crackers with high antidiabetic properties from blends of Acha (Digitaria exilis) and blanched Pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan). Putting orphan crops to work.
- A deep convolutional neural network approach for predicting phenotypes from genotypes. Artificial intelligence applied to genomic selection. Sexy enough for you?
- Genomic diversity dynamics in conserved chicken populations are revealed by genome-wide SNPs. Gotta watch those effective population sizes.
- Chicken semen cryopreservation and use for the restoration of rare genetic resources. Maybe a way to help with the above?
- Patterns of Genetic Diversity and Implications for In Situ Conservation of Wild Celery (Apium graveolens L. ssp. graveolens). 15 Most Appropriate Wild Populations out of 78. Still seems like a lot.
- Challenges for local breed management in Mediterranean dairy sheep farming: insights from Central Greece. Conservation through cross-breeding. But how long can it last?
- Genetic Diversity of Puerto Rican Farmer-held Papaya (Carica papaya) Using SSR Markers. I wonder how many are left after Maria.
- Breeding Sorghum for Diverse End Uses: Genetic Improvement of Grain Sorghum. More germplasm could be used.
- Harnessing genetic potential of wheat germplasm banks through impact-oriented-prebreeding for future food and nutritional security. Getting impact from “exotic” germplasm is possible. To be clear, I think that just means wild stuff.
- BiodiverSO: A Case Study of Integrated Project to Preserve the Biodiversity of Vegetable Crops in Puglia (Southern Italy). Saving the Polignano carrot.
- Genomics Approaches to Mining Barley Germplasm Collections. Management, cores, history. But we knew that.
- Allium Genetic Resources. Significant progress in data availability, cryopreservation protocols, health status and levels of evaluation. Maybe acquisition and exchange could be increased?
- Review: Taking stock of Africa’s second-generation agricultural input subsidy programs. 80 studies from 7 countries show that helping smallholders obtain fertilisers gives rapid but short-term and lower-than-expected increases in production. One reason is that yields don’t respond to fertilisation as much as they should. Is it because it’s mainly landraces?
Nibbles: Transformation, Restoration, Renumeration, Validation, Mensuration, Celebration, Visualization, Diversification, Fructification, Information, Fermentation, Sustentation, Association, Migration, Transformation, Microconservation
- Lawrence Haddad on how to start transforming the food system.
- Here’s an idea: CIMMYT genebank recognized for restoring agricultural diversity in Guatemala.
- And another. Cash transfers are better than more conventional interventions for malnutrition, but they have to be real money.
- But, of course, they don’t always work. That’s one of many development myths listed in this fun Twitter thread.
- We also need metrics, sure, but the right ones, and we may already have them.
- The first ecologist remembered. That would be Humboldt.
- Terrible visualizations of the changing geography of American agriculture.
- But where are heirloom grown? Rice, say?
- And where are all the pomegranate farmers?
- I’m sure there are plenty of grape maps of France somewhere. But what’s with all these varieties? And are there more than in pomegranate?
- IUCN launches a new Red List website.
- Laos launches a sort of Red List website on traditional foods. Here it is. No word on linkages with Ark of Taste.
- Belgian lambic beer threatened by climate change. Now it’s personal.
- In Italy, the landscape needs people to keep it safe.
- Even olive landscapes, which maybe need to be more promiscuous.
- Early agricultural migrations fuelled by cheese.
- Early eggplant migrations fuelled by elephants.
- Microbes to the rescue.