@barleyplanet
Retired barley geneticist interested in applied research for better crop production. Interest in all cereals, especially in their utilisations. Long term/suffering Wolves supporter. Spent my career in Scotland but now living in Glorious Gloucestershire
Can wheat keep up with climate change and food security demands? Simon Griffiths
@johninnescentre.bsky.social will explore how precision breeding can transform the future of wheat genetics.
IWGSC Webinar: 15 May 2025 at 11 AM EDT!
🔗 Sign up today: tinyurl.com/2k78bmmh
It is indeed. Highly surprised it isn't already
Wonderful talk from @delfidorussen.bsky.social at #Monogram2025 about DNA methylation mutants in wheat. You can read the full MET1-1 mutant characterisation which was just published this week @jxbotany.bsky.social ⬇️
This is an interesting read!
'Chromosome-level haplotype-resolved genome assembly of bread wheat’s wild relative Aegilops mutica'
Grewal, S., Yang, Cy., Krasheninnikova, K. et al.
buff.ly/dtiHRE7
ICYMI on Sunday - here’s a bit more background on my new regular beer column for the Sunday Times www.petebrown.net/2025/02/27/m...
Article, New Scientist, Feb 2021 on carbonised malted barley. Peter Steen Henriksen at the National Museum of Denmark and his colleagues used a scanning electron microscope to examine grains found in several archaeological deposits. Photo of Viking era #malt. 🏺🍺
www.newscientist.com/article/2268...
Congratulations @cristobaluauy.bsky.social. You have played a major role in the resurgence of the John Innes Centre. Onwards and upwards.
www.jic.ac.uk/press-releas...
📢 We Support #NGTs and we want the EU to support them too!🌱
We have called upon people to show their support for New Genomic Techniques (NGTs) to see the EU NGT legislation move forward.
🌟 Show your support by posting your own video, using #ISupportNGTs, and tagging us!
An interesting piece by @rogerprotz.bsky.social that deserves a read!
wb.camra.org.uk/2025/01/30/g...
A glimmer of hope for cask ale in the otherwise gloomy landscape of global takeovers. Good luck to the new owners of Jennings & fingers crossed for other ales cast aside by the lager giants.
Image from my straw basket class, two of my oval baskets made by the traditional technique of 'bundling' the oat straws together and stitching it together with string. One is finished and contains tools and string, the other is half complete. Also a cup of tea and a newspaper.
One of the group brought in a wonderful oat straw basket made in the 1970s. The stitching is so neat, the basket is very strong and made from bere barley straw. On the right is a glimpse of my basket, also made with bere.
The 1970s bere barley straw basket, showing the base, and my bere straw basket to the right.
Left, oat straw, middle, 1970s bere basket, right my bere basket, background straw workers.
It was straw work class last week. The round basket (not mine) was made in the 1970s. Look at the quality of bundling and stitching. The oval baskets are mine, one bere, one oat straw. I prefer to work with bere barley straw. In the past bere straw was as useful as the grain. 🏺 🪡 #straw #baskets
Based on the #BreedingValue project, we've added new trait data visualizations in the form of radar, bubble and heatmap charts for scale-type traits to highlight the differences or performance of individual germplasm.
3/5
Finally, we've added another data aggregation view to the statistics page that highlights the contribution of each project partner to the overall database. This both showcases data origins as well as giving credit to all collaborators.
5/5
exciting to watch
#root
#rootforaging
#circumnutation
and
#rootangle
formation on soil in darkness - imaged via
#IRLEDs
and
#RaspberryPi
camera
#plantscience
exploring the
#hiddenhalf
- testing image analysis @bokuvienna.bsky.social using the
#DDrC
device Simon Pree et al.
Heterodichogamy or alternate dioecy, or serial transgenderism, in more common parlance, well that's just nuts! And it's now finally understood.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Our barley queen!
Very sad to say farewell to Tammy as she finalises the last of our 2024 #OzBarley samples before she heads back to China.
It has been such a joy having her as a member of our team @scienceanu.bsky.social working on improving cereal root & stem architecture!
Our IBH seminars are always interesting and thought provoking (and occasionally not about barley) so why not drop into one - like this one on Thursday or check out the archives on www.barleyhub.org.
📢IPMNET Bulletins are on
@FarmPep farmpep.net/resource/ipm...
How long does the crop canopy need protecting? (20 min video)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3u5Q...
H2020IPMWorks Hub Scotland have been busy, and first IPMNET Conference speakers announced, full agenda soon
Timeline of genome editing innovations from KWS. Taken from https://www.kws.com/corp/de/innovation/pflanzenzuechtung/zuechtungsmethoden/genome-editing/ It shows 18 steps from 1985 (Entdeckung von Zinkfingernukleasen) to 2021 (Markteinführung der ersten genomeditierten Tomate). 2002 is the first use of CRISPR/Cas9, 2005 the first use of genome editing in plants, 2013 the first use of CRISPR/Cas9 in a crop plant, and then, 2021 the release of the CRISPR-edited GABA-tomato to the Japanese consumer market.
Cool graphic from KWS on the #GenomeEditing timeline.
Impressive how few years passed between the first use of CRISPR/Cas9 in a crop plant (2013) to the first release of an edited crop ( #GABATomato ) (2021). Trad. #PlantBreeding can take decades! 😮
www.kws.com/corp/de/inno...
#PlantScience
If you are interested in plant stem cell systems, meristems and development of cereals:
We are organising an international symposium on "Cereal Meristems and Stem Cell Systems", see attached announcement. www.cscs2025.de for more details
A greener world & excellent career prospects.
Apply now for one of our #BARIToNECTP #PhD projects run in partnership with industry Deadline 19th January 2025.
For more info visit: baritone.hutton.ac.uk
#barley #research
RESEARCH: 'Sterility of basal spikelets in wheat: predetermined fate or a matter of resources?' - Santiago Tamagno et al, doi.org/10.1093/jxb/...
Wheat infected by Fusarium
📢New paper!! A specific "killer" gene appears to protect some fungal threats as they invade wheat. Disarming these defences could offer a pathway to keeping pathogens in check.
Full story 👇
www.rothamsted.ac.uk/news/killer-...
Good news for the future of UK agriculture
Maize #diversity in #Zimbabwe
Investigating nutrient content of landraces and biofortified #maize hybrids across different agronomic practices with Dr Grace Kangara from @rothamsted.bsky.social and National Gene Bank of Zimbabwe 🇿🇼
(with statistical guidance from @geostatlark.bsky.social)
Happy New Year! Looking forward to 2025 in the pursuit of #betterbarley
The wonderful world of plant genetics and diversity
On @pelliclemag.com today I've written a piece that discloses our traffic, our finances, a little about our aims for 2025 and why you should be subscribing if you read our content. Give it a read here:
www.pelliclemag.com/home/2024/12/29/where-were-going-we-dont-need-roads-pellicles-year-in-numbers
'Into a steep, awkward acre & a half site, they shoehorned all the production side (barley lofts, washbacks, wash charger, wash & spirit still) plus 7 bonded warehouses for 2,500 casks. The worm tub sat on stilts outside, jutting several feet over the river below.'
