Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog

March 13, 2017

Agricultural death spiral

Based on our projections, the world will need only 25 percent to 70 percent more crop output in 2050 than was produced in 2014. This includes grain used to feed livestock and, to some extent, grain used for ethanol production.

I do like that “only.” In fact, and this is nothing new…

Food production will still need to keep growing to meet our updated goal of a 25 percent to 70 percent increase, but at an annual rate that is closer to the historical average.

Which will be increasingly difficult, what with climate change, decreased investment in public sector agricultural research in general and plant breeding in particular, and all. Not to mention the fact that changes in consumption patterns, ably summarized in The Economist this week, mean that for some crops the boosts in production will have to be unprecedented. Which will no doubt leave other crops behind, surrendering hostages to fortune, at least until the rich world develops a taste for them.

In the end, I suppose, if we survive that long, we’ll all be eating a couple of super-productive varieties of quinoa grown in urban vertical farms. Brave new world.

March 13, 2017March 15, 2017

Brainfood: Hot pepper double, Tibetan chickens, Watermelon diversity, Sunflower accessions, CWR meh, E Africa early ag, Pristine myth, African deforestation

Screening old peppers (Capsicum spp.) for disease resistance and pungency-related traits. Resistance does not correlate with geography within an Andean collection.
Bioactive Compound Variability in a Brazilian Capsicum Pepper Collection. No accession is high in everything.
Genetic evidence from mitochondrial DNA corroborates the origin of Tibetan chickens. That is, the surrounding regions.
Morphological and genetic diversity analysis of Citrullus landraces from India and their genetic inter relationship with continental watermelons. Modern cultivars are homogeneous.
Molecular diversity of sunflower populations maintained as genetic resources is affected by multiplication processes and breeding for major traits. Multiplication slightly reduces within-accession diversity. Well, in France anyway.
Past and Future Use of Wild Relatives in Crop Breeding. Yada yada.
Subsistence mosaics, forager-farmer interactions, and the transition to food production in eastern Africa. The transition to agriculture in E Africa was more than just the Bantu expansion.
Persistent effects of pre-Columbian plant domestication on Amazonian forest composition. Domesticated species are more common around archaeological sites. Sounds like agriculture is not much more than the Arawakan and Tupí expansions.
Human population growth offsets climate-driven increase in woody vegetation in sub-Saharan Africa. In some places climate change has positive effects, but these are swamped where there is high population growth.

March 8, 2017March 8, 2017

Sweet day

On this fine day, meet Dr Janaki Ammal…

By manipulating polyploid cells through cross-breeding of hybrids in the laboratory, Janaki was able to create a high yielding strain of the sugarcane that would thrive in Indian conditions. Her research also helped analyse the geographical distribution of sugarcane across India, and to establish that the S. Spontaneum variety of sugarcane had originated in India.

…India’s first woman PhD in botany, and a pioneer in the use of wild relatives in sugarcane breeding.

An incredible woman who spent her life in the pursuit of science, Janaki Ammal believed that it was through her work that she should be remembered. So, the next time you use a spoonful of sugar grown by an Indian sugarcane farmer, remember that you are it was Dr Janaki Ammal who added that extra bit of sweetness!

March 6, 2017March 6, 2017

CIAT blogging roundup

I paid tribute to the late great Hans Rosling in my recent post over at the work blog, but CIAT did it better. See also their very enjoyable pean to a bean explorer who is thankfully very much alive, though nearing retirement. And think about joining them.

March 6, 2017March 6, 2017

Brainfood: ABS data, Spanish chestnuts, Norwegian CWR, Bambara genome, AnGR, Jakar sheep decline, Ashanti pig, Bactris biopiracy, Avocado core, Brassicacea phylogeny

Access and Benefit Sharing under the Convention on Biological Diversity and Its Protocol: What Can Some Numbers Tell Us about the Effectiveness of the Regulatory Regime? That not much has happened. Between 1996 and 2015, out of the 14 countries with ABS legislation in force, 2 agreements for commercial researches per year.
Genetic monitoring of traditional chestnut orchards reveals a complex genetic structure. The diversity in Spain is in the rootstocks.
Climate change and national crop wild relative conservation planning. Well, for Norway anyway.
Integrating genetic maps in bambara groundnut [Vigna subterranea (L) Verdc.] and their syntenic relationships among closely related legumes. Synteny to the rescue.
Stakeholder involvement and the management of animal genetic resources across the world. Breeders’ associations and cooperatives are the key.
Decline of Jakar sheep population in pastoral communities of Bhutan: A consequence of diminishing utility, alternate income opportunities and increasing challenges. It’s the fault of the caterpillar fungus.
Origin and phylogenetic status of the local Ashanti Dwarf pig (ADP) of Ghana based on genetic analysis. It’s a bit of a mongrel.
Genetic analysis identifies the region of origin of smuggled peach palm seeds. Genebank confirms biopiracy.
Genetic Structure and Selection of a Core Collection for Long Term Conservation of Avocado in Mexico. 36 of 318 accessions recover 80% of total alleles, which seems a bit low.
Genome sequencing supports a multi-vertex model for Brassiceae species. More than just “triangle of U”.