Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog
Agrobiodiversity is crops, livestock, foodways, microbes, pollinators, wild relatives …
Grains of Wisdom: Insights into the Minds of Top Chefs—A Synthesis of Expert Interviews and Literature. A good chef can make even quinoa palatable. Citizen science informs demand-driven breeding of opportunity crops. I wonder if tricot can make quinoa palatable. Never mind, it’s good for a lot of other things. Recurrent evolution of cryptic triploids …
The genomic origin of early maize in eastern North America. There were at least 2 eastern dispersals of ancient maize from the US Southwest. Archaeological findings show the extent of primitive characteristics of maize in South America. At about the same time, semi-domesticated maize also reached deep into South America. Maize monoculture supported pre-Columbian urbanism …
Conventional agriculture increases global warming while decreasing system sustainability. The global warming potential of conventional grain agriculture has increased x8 from 1961-2020, whereas sustainability index has decreased x3. Whatever are we to do? Adoption of improved crop varieties limited biodiversity losses, terrestrial carbon emissions, and cropland expansion in the tropics. Crop improvements from 1961–2015 resulted …
Climate change and nutrition-associated diseases. Climate change is going to be bad for human health. To help us cope with the heavier burden of disease, crops will need to be able to cope better with pests and diseases themselves… Genome-wide association study of cassava brown streak disease resistance in cassava germplasm conserved in South America. …
Quality management in a genebank environment: Principles and experiences at the Centre for Genetic Resources, The Netherlands (CGN). Do we need a certification system for genebanks? We do have the means to put one together. A pragmatic protocol for seed viability monitoring in ex situ plant genebanks. But will genebank certification allow much-needed flexibility? Genotyping …