Brainfood: Chinese pig breeds, Benin wild fruit, Wild lettuce, Sugarbeet breeding, Teosinte introgression, Peach genome, Wild chickpea, Garlic metabolites, CWR seeds, Macadamia genotyping, Banana database, Indigenous foodways

Identifying the unique characteristics of the Chinese indigenous pig breeds in the Yangtze River Delta region for precise conservation. Genotyping shows which pig breeds are best. Diversity in tree and fruit traits of Strychnos spinosa Lam. along a climatic gradient in Benin: a step towards domestication. Phenotyping shows which fruit populations are best. Lactuca georgica, …

Brainfood: Perennial favourites, Feral grapevines, Silky cat, Damaged yams, Maize vs sorghum, Sunflower ecotypes, Fungal diversity, Pacific voyaging, Vitamin seeds, Biogeoinformatics, Natural language, Evaluation, Aquaculture

Perennial vegetables: A neglected resource for biodiversity, carbon sequestration, and nutrition. Over 600 perennial veggies on 6% of global vegetable cropland. Genomic Evidences Support an Independent History of Grapevine Domestication in the Levant. Separate from what happened in the Caucasus, that is. Distribution, prevalence and severity of damages caused by nematodes on yam (Dioscorea rotundata) …

How many rice varieties are there in India?

Prior to the green revolution in the 1960s, India was home to more than 100,000 rice varieties, encompassing a stunning diversity in taste, nutrition, pest-resistance and, crucially in this age of climate change and natural disasters, adaptability to a range of conditions. Ok, I’ll bite. That’s from a recent blog post from UNEP. Let’s assume …

Brainfood: Agrobiodiversity Index, Breeding strategy, Soybean breeding, Red Listing, Stunting, Planetary boundaries, ITPGRFA, Wheat domestication, Anthropogenic fire double, Japonica diversity, Rice landraces, Tepary breeding, Lupin genome, Hazelnut diversity, Lapita food

Text Mining National Commitments towards Agrobiodiversity Conservation and Use. Fancy maths cannot find evidence of country commitment to seed diversity. Optimized breeding strategies to harness Genetic Resources with different performance levels. How a public breeding programme can help out private breeding programme. Introgression of novel genetic diversity to improve soybean yield. Public breeding programme helps …

IPBES7 on agricultural biodiversity

So I’ve trawled the latest IPBES Global Assessment Summary for Policymakers for references to agricultural diversity, so you don’t have to. Here’s the most relevant of the Key Messages: A6. Globally, local varieties and breeds of domesticated plants and animals are disappearing. This loss of diversity, including genetic diversity, poses a serious risk to global …