A web site in Pakistan carries an extended article in praise of horticulture for poverty alleviation. While one might quibble with some of the ideas in the article (is growing hydroponically for export really a good idea for poor marginal farmers?) one cannot argue with the general thrust of the piece: that growing fruit and vegetables can enrich peoples’ lives in more ways than money. Maybe the authors already know about the Global Horticulture Initiative, which seeks to promote horticulture around the world. If not, we’re pleased to effect an introduction. Just let us know what, if anything, comes of it.
Accidental cross reveals salt-tolerant wheat genes
Scientists at the Australian CSIRO Plant Industry (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization) have discovered two genes, called Nax1 and Nax2, that could be used to develop salt-tolerant wheats. Nax1 exudes sodium (Na, geddit?) from the leaves while Nax2 excludes it from the roots. The two genes appear to come from an ancient type of wheat, Triticum monococcum, that was accidentally crossed into a modern durum wheat line about 35 years ago. Rana Munns, the team leader, said the discovery was an amazing stroke of luck.
We screened a hundred durum wheats from the Australian Winter Cereals Collection at Tamworth, which contains tens of thousands of wheat types. Highlighting the fact that the science of plant breeding sometimes relies on an element of good fortune, we were lucky to find the durum variety with the ancient genes straight away, otherwise we might have been looking for years.
The search was motivated by the knowledge that 6% of the world’s arable areas are affected by salinity.
Personally, of course, I’d like to know more about that accidental cross that put T. monococcum genes into a modern bread wheat, but details are not forthcoming.
Article: Physiological Characterisation of Two Genes for Na+ Exclusion in Durum Wheat: Nax1 and Nax2.
Whinge: Agriculture is part of biodiversity
From the global to the local, I’m getting increasingly fed up with people who jump on the biodiversity bandwagon with not even a nod to agriculture. It’s what feeds us, for goodness sake. And yet neither a comment on how the world should respond to the latest report on climate change nor the plans for a little biodiversity fair in a little area of Yorkshire in England make any mention of it. Bah!
The same seems to be true of a symposium called Shades of Green: Exploring biodiversity, human values and urban planning. It is at the University of Guelph in Canada, on 8 March. If you’re in the neighbourhood, with nothing better to do, why not pop along and report here on whether anyone uses the dreaded four-letter f-word: food.
How to brew beer, Zimbabwe style
An excellent post on Field to Feast, a blog of “Africa-inspired writing, cooking and eating”, describes the process of making (and drinking) some of the local brews of Zimbabwe. “I don’t think I’ve heard of a grain or fruit that isn’t made into some sort of beer or liquor,” Carolyn, the author, writes. She goes on to describe brewing a batch of chikokiyana, a quick-fire beer made from maize. It does point up the human propensity to turn anything fermentable into an alcoholic beverage, even if it is something of an acquired taste. But it isn’t just home brewers who use a diversity of raw materials. Some big brewers have adopted a similar strategy.
Of late, my own web searches for articles about sorghum have been overwhelmed by news about a sorgum-based beer from brewing giant Anheuser-Busch. The beer, called Redbridge, is being touted as good for drinkers who are allergic to gluten. It also represents a deliberate attempt by the brewer to develop new niches for different drinkers, based on a diversity of raw materials, to boost sales and prevent swings in revenue. Sounds an awful lot like using several species and varieties in a farming system to increase production and stabilize yields.
Prioritizing African protected areas
This EU-funded project has looked at all the national parks and reserves in Africa and assessed the contribution each makes to conserving biodiversity as part of the overall system of protected areas. Really an incredible job. Mainly dealing with animals, however, so I wonder if something similar could be done with things like wild crop relatives or something. Also, could these techniques be applied to in situ crop conservation?