Just in time for your weekend reading, here are a selection of the latest research papers authored by our scientists.  Three papers are available as open access, so are available in full-text.   Enjoy!

Chaves, N.P.; Pocasangre, L.E.; Elango, F.; Rosales, F.E.; Sikora, R.(2009) Combining endophytic fungi and bacteria for the biocontrol of Radopholus similis (Cobb) Thorne and for effects on plant growth. Scientia Horticulturae v.122 (3): p. 472-478 ISSN:0304-4238

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Davey, M.W.; Graham, N.S.; Vanholme, B.; Swennen, R.; May, S.T.; Keulemans, J.(2009)    Heterologous oligonucleotide microarrays for transcriptomics in a non-model species; a proof-of-concept study of drought stress in Musa. BMG Genomics 10: article nr. 436 ISSN:1471-2164     OPEN ACCESS PAPER

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De Capdeville, G.; Souza Junior, M.T.; Szinay, D.; Diniz, L.E.C.; Wijnker, E.; Swennen, R.; Kema, G.H.J.; De Jong, H.(2009)  The potential of high-resolution BAC-FISH in banana breeding. Euphytica v.166 (3): p. 431-443 ISSN:0014-2336    OPEN ACCESS PAPER

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Dochez, C.; Speijer, P.R.; De Schutter, B.; Dubois, T.; Tenkouano, A.; De Waele, D.; Ortiz, R.(2009)  Host plant resistance and tolerance of Musa landraces and hybrids to nematode infestation. Journal of Agriculture and Rural Development in the Tropics and Subtropics Suppl. 92: p. 137-153 ISSN:1612-9830   OPEN ACCESS PAPER

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Dulloo, E.; Ebert, A. W.; Dussert, S.; Gotor, E.; Astorga, C.; Vasquez, N.; Rakotomalala, J.J.; Rabemiafara, A.; Eira, M.; Bellachew, B.; Omondi, C.; Engelmann, F.; Anthony, F.; Watts, J.; Qamar, Z.; Snook, L.(2009)  Cost efficiency of cryopreservation as a long-term conservation method for coffee genetic resources. Crop Science 49 (6): p. 2123-2138 ISSN:0011-183X

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Hermann, M.(2009)  The impact of the European Novel Food Regulation on trade and food innovation based on traditional plant foods developing countries. Food Policy v. 34: p. 499-507 ISSN:0306-9192

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Pandey; M.; Geburek, T.(2009)  Genetic differences between continuous and disjunct populations: some insights from sal (Shorea robusta Roxb.) in Nepal. Conservation Genetics Online first article: 10.1007/s10592-009-9940-y ISSN:1566-0621 (Print)

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Wang, Q.C.; Panis, B.; Engelmann, F.; Lambardi, M.; Valkonen, J.(2009) Cryotherapy of shoot tips: a technique for pathogen eradication to produce healthy planting materials and prepare healthy plant genetic resources for cryopreservation. Annals of Applied Biology V. 154: p. 351-363 ISSN:0003-4746

Today and for the next two days (16-18th Nov), topics such as food security, hunger and governance will be on the agenda in Rome at the World Food Summit being held at FAO.

The key challenges for this summit include:

* To put in place a more coherent and effective system of governance of food security at both national and international levels.

* To make sure developing countries have a fair chance of competing in world commodity markets and that agricultural support policies do not unfairly distort international trade.

* To agree on more effective mechanisms for early reaction to food crises.

* To find ways to ensure that farmers in both developed and developing countries can earn incomes comparable to those of secondary and tertiary sector workers in their respective countries.

To learn more about the Summit, click here.   Or, follow the Summit in real time via IISD reporting services or Twitter

The 1 billion hungry.org portal was launched yesterday to harness support for the 1 billion hungry people in the world, and make the issue a priority as a lead up to the World Summit on Food Security that is being held at FAO on the 16th-18th November.

Please consider signing this petition and let’s make hunger a thing of the past.

Here’s an amusing article but with an important message from Alex Renton from the the Times On-line website.

The author argues that if we made even a small reduction in the amount of meat we eat,  we would make a solid contribution to reducing our carbon foot-print and assist in slowing down climate change.  Some of the figures he states are quite alarming:

<quote>  Meat consumption in China is twice what it was a decade ago, although at about 50g per head a year it is still much less than in richer nations. In Britain we eat 74kg per person, while Americans consume 123kg each. In India they eat about 5kg per year, in most of Africa even less. <unquote>

Renton then provides us with some information on how much actually goes into a meal based dish.  <quote>   It takes roughly 10kg of vegetable matter or cereals to produce 1kg of beef, which means that the resources for one meat-eater’s dinner might feed five times as many people, or more. <unquote>

Read the full article here.

Via the ENDURE website we had the opportunity to view the Eurowheat platform.

The EuroWheat website brings together information on disease management in wheat and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices within a European context. It includes sections dedicated to fungicides, decision support, pathogens, cultivars and yields, and general information on disease management. At present there are 10 participating research institutions from six European countries.

A section of the website that we particularly like is the Decision Supports area that provides end users with information about support systems, their targets, and contact names. Very helpful to have this information available in one place rather than having to sift through thousands of Google hits. Another nice feature is the Public Documents section that provides users with national guidelines and case studies in wheat disease management. At present there are not many documents available but this is most certainly a section that will grow as more European countries and research institutes participate.

If you are interested in wheat, particularly in an European context, the Eurowheat website is worth a look.

Today is World Food Day.

The plight of the world’s hungry is brought to our attention every year on this day. This year’s bitter pill is even harder to swallow as the number of people who experience hunger has risen more than previous years. This is due to rising food prices, food shortages and the world economic crisis.

There is an estimated increase of 105 million hungry people in 2009; consequently there are now 1.02 billion malnourished people in the world, meaning that almost one sixth of all humanity is suffering from hunger!

The future doesn’t look so rosy either, if one begins to contemplate things like climate change and the extreme weather conditions that many developing countries have been experiencing these last few months. Not forgetting the use of agricultural land for biofuel crops rather than food crops.   This year’s World Food Day theme is right on target with it’s “Achieving food security in times of crisis”.

A High-Level Forum on “How to feed the World 2050″ has just been held at the UN agency of FAO which looked at examined policy options that governments should consider adopting to ensure that the world population can be fed when it nears its peak of nearly 9.2 billion people in the middle of this century. Another committee, the Committee on World Food Security is now meeting at FAO (14-17th October) to considered reforms that will enable it to play a much more effective role in the global governance of food security.

Click here for more information on World Food Day

Please also see an earlier post we did on the World Hunger Report

What are your thoughts? We’ve been battling this problem of hunger for decades now – what do you think can be done either on a local or international level to give needy people access to food?

An interesting and recently released booklet from the Platform for Agrobiodiversity Research (PAR) has landed on our desks here in the library. It is titled: Coping with climate change: the use of agrobiodiversity by indigenous and rural communities.

This publication is an outcome of the international PAR workshop on “The use of agrobiodiversity by indigenous peoples and rural communities in adapting to climate change” held at Chiang Mai, June 2009.

It briefly looks at 1) the socio-cultural dimensions to biodiversity conservation and use; 2) the farming practices adopted by rural communities; 3) how we can learn from groups such as African pastoralists (the Maasai in Kenya, the Pokot in Uganda) on climate change adaptation, as well as looking at the 360 degree integration of all the varied aspects of community life (be it socio-cultural, biological physical or environmental) in adapting to climatic change.

The publication is available freely over the internet here (1.4MB). To learn more about the Platform for Agrobiodiversity Research, click here.

The Crop Wild Relatives (CWR) Project that is implemented by Bioversity International with funding provided by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and implementation support from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has just issued their latest newsletter.

The CWR Project has been a five year project that has focused on in situ conservation of crop wild relatives through enhanced information management and field application. It has been implemented in five countries Armenia, Bolivia, Madagascar, Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan.

The project is coming to a close, but there is still a lot of activities and outputs in the pipeline.  Read more about these activities, the project and about individual country updates here.

For more information about the project, see their website.

“How to Feed the World in 2050?” -  How can we ensure that enough food is available for, and accessible to a growing world population? This is the question that is presently being debated on the Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum).

The FSN Forum invites interested parties to discuss these and other questions related to the future of agriculture. The topic has been raised by Hartwig de Haen, former Assistant Director General of FAO Economic and Social Development Department.

To join the discussion, please register online here or participate by requesting a temporary subscription at fsn-moderator@fao.org. Contributions can be made in English, French or Spanish.

Results of the debate will help prepare the High-Level Expert Forum on “How to Feed the World in 2050″, scheduled to take place at FAO headquarters in Rome on 12-13 October 2009.

For more information on this event, please consult the forum’s webpage.  Specifically, a summary of the online discussion will be presented to attendants of the meeting while their reactions will be posted on the FSN website for additional feedback.

For further information on the FSN Forum, please contact: fsn-moderator@fao.org

Have your say.

Here are the latest research papers and book chapters authored by our scientists:

Blomme, G.; Turyageyenda, L.F.; Mukasa, H.; Ssekiwoko, F.; Mpirra, S.; Eden-Green, S.(2009)
The effect of the prompt removal of inflorescence-infected plants and early debudding of inflorescences on the control of Xanthomonas wilt of banana. In Proceedings of the International Symposium on Recent Advances in Banana Crop Protection for Sustainable Production and Improved Livelihoods. Jones, D.; Van den Bergh, I. (eds.). White River (South Africa), 10-14 Sep 2007. International Society for Horticultural Science (Belgium) p. 51-56 ISBN:9789066054882

Davey, M.W.; Van den Bergh, I.; Markham, R.; Swennen, R.; Keulemans, J.(2009)
Genetic variability in Musa fruit provitamin A carotenoids, lutein and mineral micronutrient contents. Food Chemistry 115 (3): p. 806-813 ISSN:0308-8146

Drucker, A.G.; Rodriguez, L.C. (2009)
Development, intensification and the conservation and sustainable use of farm animal genetic resources. In Agrobiodiversity and economic development. (Kontoleon, U. et al (eds.)). Routledge 92-109 ISBN:978-0-415-46505-2

Jones, D.; Van den Bergh, I. (eds.)(2009)
Proceedings.  International Symposium on Recent Advances in Banana Crop Protection for Sustainable Production and Improved Livelihoods. White River (South Africa), 10-14 Sep 2007. International Society for Horticultural Science (Belgium) 427 p. ISBN:9789066054882

Karamura, E.; Turyagyenda, F.; Tinzaara, W.; Muhangi, J.; Blomme, G.; Maina-Mwangi, F.(2009)
Participatory monitoring and evaluation of management strategies to control Xanthomonas wilt of banana in East and Central Africa. In Proceedings of the International Symposium on Recent Advances in Banana Crop Protection for Sustainable Production and Improved Livelihoods. Jones, D.; Van den Bergh, I. (eds.). White River (South Africa), 10-14 Sep 2007. International Society for Horticultural Science (Belgium) p. 405-410 ISBN:9789066054882

Liyama, M.; Kristjanson, P.; Ogutu, J.; Maitima, J.; Kariuki, P. ; Morimoto, Y.; Baur, H. (2009)
Development challenges and natural resources in rural Africa. In Natural resources: management, economic development and protection. (Pauling, J.B. (ed.)). Nova Science Publishers 37 p. ISBN:978-1-60456-982-7

Markham, R.(2009)
Managing diseases and pests of banana: the way ahead?. In Proceedings of the International Symposium on Recent Advances in Banana Crop Protection for Sustainable Production and Improved Livelihoods. Jones, D.; Van den Bergh, I. (eds.). White River (South Africa), 10-14 Sep 2007. International Society for Horticultural Science (Belgium) p. 417-427 ISBN:9789066054882

Molina, A.B.; Fabregar, E.; Sinohin, V.G.; Yi, G.; Viljoen, A.(2009)
Recent occurence of Fusarium oxysporum  f. sp. cubense tropical race 4 in Asia. In Proceedings of the International Symposium on Recent Advances in Banana Crop Protection for Sustainable Production and Improved Livelihoods. Jones, D.; Van den Bergh, I. (eds.). White River (South Africa), 10-14 Sep 2007. International Society for Horticultural Science (Belgium) p. 109-115 ISBN:9789066054882

Molina, A.B.; Sinohin, V.G.O.; dela Cueva, F.M.; Esguerra, A.V.; Crusido, S.S.; Vida, E.; Temanel, B.E.; Anit, E.A.; Eusebio, J.E.(2009)
Managing banana bunchy top virus in smallholdings in the Philippines. In Proceedings of the International Symposium on Recent Advances in Banana Crop Protection for Sustainable Production and Improved Livelihoods. Jones, D.; Van den Bergh, I. (eds.). White River (South Africa), 10-14 Sep 2007. International Society for Horticultural Science (Belgium) p. 383-387 ISBN:9789066054882

Nithya Devi, A.; Ponnuswami, V.; Sundararaju, P.; Van den Bergh, I.; Kavino, M.(2009)
Histopathological changes in banana roots caused by Pratylenchus coffeae, Meloidogyne incognita and Radopholus similis, and identification of RAPD markers associated with P. coffeae resistance. In Proceedings of the International Symposium on Recent Advances in Banana Crop Protection for Sustainable Production and Improved Livelihoods. Jones, D.; Van den Bergh, I. (eds.). White River (South Africa), 10-14 Sep 2007. International Society for Horticultural Science (Belgium) p. 283-290 ISBN:9789066054882

Panis, B.(2009)
Cryopreservation of Musa germplasm. 2nd edition.   48 p. ISBN:9782910810863

Roux, N.S.; Toloza, A.; Strosse, H.; Busogoro, J.P.; Dolezel, J.(2009)
Induction and selection of potentially useful mutants in banana. In Proceedings of the International Symposium on Recent Advances in Banana Crop Protection for Sustainable Production and Improved Livelihoods. Jones, D.; Van den Bergh, I. (eds.). White River (South Africa), 10-14 Sep 2007. International Society for Horticultural Science (Belgium) p. 315-322 ISBN:9789066054882

Salcedo, J.; Baena, M.; Scheldeman, X.; Vinceti, B.; Willemen, L.(2009)
Survey on conservation and use of forest genetic resources in Latin America. Investigacion Agraria: Sistemas y Recursos Forestales 18(2): p. 132-139 ISSN:1131-7965

Smale, M.; Hazell, P.; Hodgkin, T.; Fowler, C.(2009)
Do we have an adequate global strategy for securing the biodiversity of major food crops?. In Agrobiodiversity conservation and economic development. (Kontoleon, A. et al (eds.)). Routledge p. 40-50 ISBN:9780203890127

Staver, C.(2009)
Increasing the pro-poor impact of banana crop protection stategies: knowing our clients, involving new players and linking more effectively. In Proceedings of the International Symposium on Recent Advances in Banana Crop Protection for Sustainable Production and Improved Livelihoods. Jones, D.; Van den Bergh, I. (eds.). White River (South Africa), 10-14 Sep 2007. International Society for Horticultural Science (Belgium) p. 361-374 ISBN:9789066054882

van Treuren,T.; Engels, J.M.M.; Hoekstra, R.; van Hintum,Th.J.L.(2009)
Optimization of the composition of crop collections for ex situ conservation. Plant Genetic Resources: Characterization and Utilization  7(2): p.185-193 ISSN:1479-2621

van Zonneveld, M.; Jarvis, A.; Dvorak, W.; Lema, G.; Leibing, C. (2009)
Climate change impact predictions on Pinus patula and Pinus tecunumanii populations in Mexico and Central America. Forest Ecology and Management 257(7): p. 1566-1576

van Zonneveld, M.; Koskela, J.; Vinceti, B.; Jarvis, A. (2009)
Impact of climate change on the distribution of tropical pines in Southeast Asia. Unasylva  No. 231-232: p. 24-29 ISSN:0041-6436

zum Felde, A.; Mendoza, A.; Cabrera, J.A.; Kurtz, A.; Schouten, A.; Pocasangre, L.; Sikora, R.A.(2009)
The burrowing nematode of banana: strategies for controlling the uncontrollable. In Proceedings of the International Symposium on Recent Advances in Banana Crop Protection for Sustainable Production and Improved Livelihoods. Jones, D.; Van den Bergh, I. (eds.). White River (South Africa), 10-14 Sep 2007. International Society for Horticultural Science (Belgium) p. 101-107

Please contact us should you be interested in any of these papers.