Search Results (37)

The common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is a globally significant crop with a well-documented domestication history and a critical role in food security. Here, we present the first whole-genome genetic characterization of Cypriot common bean landraces and heirloom varieties, originated from remote mountainous areas, using DArTseq-based SNP genotyping. A total of 13,215 high-quality SNPs were investigated from 50 genotypes, indicating a moderate linkage disequilibrium, high incidences of private and fixed alleles, and an overall low heterozygosity. The comparison of varieties indicated that dry and green bean varieties consisted of genetically distinct clusters, reinforced by phylogenetic and Bayesian structure analyses. A few of the varieties, such as “Gliastro” and “Stringless Blue Lake,” demonstrated an intense genetic diversity and/or inbreeding, whereas others showed evidence of admixture. The outcomes highlight the unique genetic make-up of the Cypriot bean germplasm and its worth as a tool for breeding, conservation, and upcoming genomic-assisted improvement programs. Full article

Snake melons have been present for a millennia, despite their present limited use, and host a large degree of genetic and phytochemical diversity. The current study evaluated the genomic and biochemical diversity of Snake melon landraces of Cypriot and Greek origin, revealing significant degrees of genetic and mineral/phytochemical variation. Landraces showed a high potential for improving nutritional quality and a possible contribution to stress resilience. Whole-genome analysis highlighted a high degree of SNPs, InDels, SVs, and CNVs, especially in genotypes like Atzouri and ARI001024, indicating that functional variants influence phenotypic/chemical diversity. Biochemical profiling demonstrated great differences in the concentration of pigments, antioxidants, and minerals, with ARI001024 and ARI00894 exhibiting elevated levels of nutrients/phytochemicals. Hierarchical clustering and PCA analyses established relationships among traits, and reinforced the concept that these genotypes may offer valuable genetic resources for breeding programs under climate-resilient production schemes, emphasizing the need for conservation and further genomic characterization. Full article

Heritage landscapes endure not through the preservation of fixed forms but through the capacity to adapt to changing social, political, economic, and environmental conditions. Conservation policies that privilege static ideals of authenticity risk undermining the very systems they aim to protect. This paper advances a model of shared stewardship that links conservation of heritage to support for livelihoods, functional flexibility, and community authority in decision-making. Using the Ifugao Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordillera as a case study, we integrate archaeological, ethnographic, spatial, and agricultural economic evidence to examine the terraces as a dynamic socio-ecological system. Archaeological findings and oral histories show that wet-rice agriculture expanded in the 17th century, replacing earlier taro-based systems and incorporating swidden fields, managed forests, and ritual obligations. Contemporary changes such as the shift from heirloom tinawon rice to commercial crops, the impacts of labor migration, and climate variability reflect long-standing adaptive strategies rather than cultural decline. Comparative cases from other UNESCO and heritage sites demonstrate that economic viability, adaptability, and local governance are essential to sustaining long-inhabited agricultural landscapes. We thus argue that the Ifugao terraces, like their global counterparts, should be conserved as living systems whose cultural continuity depends on their ability to respond to present and future challenges. Full article

In Jordan, where aging at home reflects Islamic cultural values, elderly populations face housing environments that fail to meet their needs, challenging sustainable aging-in-place objectives. This study explores how space personalization enhances autonomy and control among Jordan’s elderly using a mixed-methods approach combining surveys and interviews across multiple governorates. Findings reveal that space personalization strengthens elders’ sense of control over daily activities and household decisions, with private room allocation emerging as particularly significant. While conflicts between generations present barriers to control, cherished objects, such as heirlooms and religious artifacts, play a vital role in maintaining emotional connections and territorial identity. The study highlights the need for culturally sensitive housing modifications that respect cultural traditions while addressing practical needs, recommending community-based care programs and intergenerational dialogue initiatives. These insights contribute to sustainable urban development strategies that support dignified aging while preserving socio-cultural heritage, offering lessons for similar communities facing rapid demographic transitions. Full article

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMFs) can alleviate salt stress in plants by promoting growth. The mitigating effect of the AMF Gigaspora albida on the physiology, growth, and Na⁺/K⁺ balance in heirloom maize under different dilutions of saline wastewater was evaluated. The study was conducted in a greenhouse under a completely randomized design (CRD) in a 3 × 4 factorial scheme, with six replicates. The treatments consisted of three mycorrhizal conditions (M1—control plants without the AMF; M2—plants inoculated with G. albida; and M3—plants inoculated with G. albida plus the soil microbiota) and four levels of electrical conductivity (ECw): 0.5, 1.8, 3.1, and 4.4 dS m⁻¹. The results indicate that saline wastewater affects the physiology of heirloom maize. The symbiosis in M2 and M3 mitigated the stress in PSII by dissipating heat. The M3 treatment alleviated ionic stress in maize, reduced the Na⁺/K⁺ ratio in the aerial part, and increased the MSPA, MSRA, AP, and DC at EC_a levels of 1.8 and 3.1 dS m⁻¹. The M1 plants adapted by investing in root growth to tolerate the high salinity. In M2, the plant–AMF interaction did not mitigate the effects of high salinity, showing the worst growth performance. The saline wastewater reduced the percentage of G. albida colonization. An EC_a of 2.9 dS m⁻¹ favored a high spore density. Full article

The sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) is subject to the progressive disappearance of its traditional chestnut groves. In the northern part of Italy, where distribution of the sweet chestnut is fragmented, many local varieties continue to be identified mostly by oral tradition. We characterised by SSRs eleven historically recognised varieties of sweet chestnut in the area surrounding Lake Como, with the goal of giving a genetic basis to the traditional classification. We performed classical analysis about differentiation and used Bayesian approaches to detect population structure and to reconstruct demography. The results revealed that historical and genetic classifications are loosely linked when chestnut fruits are just “castagne”, that is, normal fruits, but increasingly overlap where “marroni” (the most prized fruits) are concerned. Bayesian classification allowed us to identify a homogeneous gene cluster not recognised in the traditional assessment of the varieties and to reconstruct possible routes used for the propagation of sweet chestnut. We also reconstructed ancestral relationships between the different gene pools involved and dated ancestral lineages whose results fit with palynological data. We suggest that conservation strategies based on a genetic evaluation of the resource should also rely on traditional cultural heritage, which could reveal new sources of germplasm. Full article

The royalty of the Classic Maya of Mesoamerica, and later sages of the Maya, used a powerful diphrastic kenning chab akab’, glossed as “generation-darkness” to convey a range of objectives, conjuring foremost among them. Known principally from hieroglyphic written expressions, but also depicted in the form of sacrificial instruments and offerings, Eleanor Harrison-Buck, following Timothy Knowlton, proposed that the kenning references sexual intercourse. This essay proposes that a black steatite carved figure stylistically dating to the Middle Preclassic period (900–350 CE) depicts this incantation as an old woman giving birth to her maleness in the form of a circumcised penis. A second Middle Preclassic figure of a dancing child, found as an heirloom in a Classic tomb, is compared to show the link between Preclassic and Classic meaning. Full article

Global levels of biodiversity and dietary diversity are decreasing, leading to food and nutrition insecurity. This is partially due to the homogenization of the global food supply with commodity crops. The reintroduction or introduction of neglected and underutilized species, minor, forgotten, and indigenous crops and landrace varieties to the wider food systems and further diversification have been outlined as the future strategies for tackling the above by the United Nations and the Food and Agriculture Organization in their policy frameworks. Most of the above species/crops are marginalized and only used across local food systems and in research. With over 15,000 different seed banks and repositories worldwide, information transparency and communication are crucial for database searching and their effective utilization. Much confusion persists around the true nature of those plants, and this prohibits the efficient utilization of their economic potential. A linguistic corpus search and a systematic literature review were conducted using the six most popular collocates to the above terms, which were as follows: ancient, heirloom, heritage, traditional, orphan, and the more distinct term ‘landrace’. The results were interpreted using the Critical Discourse Analysis method. The definitions’ findings show that heirloom, heritage, and ancient are mainly used in the United Kingdom and USA, where they are used to describe ‘naturalized’ and ‘indigenized’ or ‘indigenous’ food crops with a strong affiliation to ‘family’ and the ‘act of passing seeds down from generation to generation’. Orphan crops, on the other hand, are often described as being ‘overlooked’ by growers and ‘underfunded’ by researchers. Landrace is most strongly affiliated with ‘locality’, ‘biocultural diversity’, and ‘indigenous’, and with genomics literature, where the characteristics are often discussed in the context of genetics and population biology. Contextualizing, most of the terms were found to be ‘arbitrary’ and ‘undefinable’ due to their continuing evolution in the socially accepted form of language, perhaps apart from landrace. The review has retrieved 58 definitions for the mentioned 6 terms, together with the primary key terms creating a tool to facilitate a better inter-sector communication and aid in policy. Full article

Textiles and clothing were and still are an important source of culture as well as an indicator of a robust economy and social status. Textile household goods and clothing are important heirlooms, providing valuable information about the standard of living, socio-political events, and cultural influences of the regions from which they originate. This paper presents the preliminary results of a research project dealing with the traditional natural dyes used in Greece for the decoration of garments from the 19th century onwards (from the 19th until the mid-20th century). The research aims to identify and record all the different plants and dyeing techniques used in Greece during this period and also to propose a non-destructive methodology for the study of dyed textiles in order to facilitate their preservation. In this paper, the focus is on the presentation of the classification and identification data of the plants used as the dyeing sources, according to recipes collected in various areas in Greece, as well as the description of their botanical characteristics. The research was based on the study of more than 2000 manuscripts and many interviews with older people who have used these materials. Thus, more than 140 plants have been documented, together with their recipes. The data produced include the phytological characteristics of the plants, as well as the parts of the plant used, the period collected and the areas they were used, together with images of the plants and various details regarding the recipes used in many places around Greece, along with the related documentation. The study also refers to ethics and traditions related to the dyes, the color, or the dyeing procedures used. Woolen samples were prepared based on the data collected in order to investigate how the differences recorded from place to place are reflected in the final result. Through this research, it was possible to identify and replicate some of the non-common recipes which use the Mediterranean strawflower, Helichrysum stoechas (L.) Moench, red algae, Rytiphloea tinctoria (Clemente) C.Agardh, and the common poppy Papaver rhoeas L as dyestuffs. Full article

There is a vast diversity of historic heirloom apple varieties around the world. Apples of various colors, sizes, tastes, uses, and ripening times can be found. In Slovakia, there has recently been a rising interest to preserve these apple varieties. The life of a tree is partially influenced by the growing conditions of the environment where the tree grows. In this paper, macroscopic and microscopic characteristics of four selected heirloom apple trees growing in Slovakia’s Štiavnické vrchy were observed. Studying the microscopic structure of historical heirloom apple trees wood could reveal specific cell arrangements of tissues. This could help to specify the individual varieties. Full article

Peppers (Capsicum annuum) are one of the most widely cultivated vegetable crops, with per capita consumption of bell and chile peppers being 11.4 and 7.7 pounds in 2017. Biostimulants are an emerging sustainable alternative to enhance plant health by increasing photosynthetic activity, stress tolerance, and nutrient uptake through various modes of action. The effects of different biostimulant applications largely remain unknown in containerized heirloom pepper production. This study evaluated plant growth, yield, and fruit quality of nine heirloom chile pepper cultivars, including ‘Anaheim Chili,’ ‘Ancho or Poblano,’ ‘Big Jim,’ ‘Cayenne Purple,’ ‘Chile de Arbol,’ ‘Jamaica Hot Red,’ ‘Mulato Isleno,’ ‘Padron,’ and ‘Pasilla Bajio’ in a container production system throughout the years of 2020 and 2021. Each cultivar was treated with three types of biostimulants, including Tribus^® Original (a mixture of Bacillus bacterias), Vitazyme (containing plant growth regulators and B vitamins), C-Bio CPS (seaweed extract of Ascophyllum Nodosum), and water as control. Pepper cultivars varied in yield and quality, including fruit length, diameter, single fruit weight, and fruit color in both years. ‘Anaheim Chili,’ ‘Big Jim,’ and ‘Jamaica Hot Red’ produced highest marketable yields similarly, with ‘Chile de Arbol’ and ‘Pasilla de Bajio’ producing the lowest marketable yields in both years. Biostimulant application did not affect marketable yield either in 2020 or 2021 but enhanced fruit quality, including fruit length, diameter, and green coloration. Full article

Family genealogy is well-positioned to explore the significance of burial and death, particularly as it relates to one’s connection to ancestors. Doing genealogical research involves visiting the land of the dead, treasuring information, heirlooms, and documents providing evidence about the life of an ancestor, and often revealing a presence of and interaction with the ancestor. Burial is not only associated with the essence of humanity, and coeval with historical consciousness, but it is also essentially connected with genealogy. One may argue that historical consciousness is founded on awareness of and practices bearing on genealogical and ancestral relations. After briefly listing points related to burial and mortuary practices, the article discusses Western philosophers beginning with Plato to show the dual emphases of concern for personal mortality and death of the other. It focuses on death of the other as being able to explain funerary practices and as amenable to genealogy. Next, a brief examination of Freud’s uncanny and of Abraham and Torok’s transgenerational psychology constructed on evidence of the unconscious phantom lead to the spectral turn instituted by Derrida. The article is rounded out with a consideration of the metatextuality of Gilgamesh and the Odyssey epics. Both involve a visit by the living to the land of the dead. Both are textual, placing unwritten stress on the critical role of writing. Full article

Juglans regia (L.) is cultivated worldwide for its nutrient-rich nuts. In Italy, despite the growing demand, walnut cultivation has gone through a strong decline in recent decades, which led to Italy being among the top five net importing countries. To promote the development of local high-quality Italian walnut production, we devised a multidisciplinary project to highlight the distinctive traits of three varieties grown in the mountainous region Trentino (northeast of Italy): the heirloom ‘Bleggiana’, a second local accession called local Franquette and the French cultivar ‘Lara’, recently introduced in the local production to increase yield. The genetic characterization confirmed the uniqueness of ‘Bleggiana’ and revealed local Franquette as a newly described autochthonous variety, thus named ‘Blegette’. The metabolic profiles highlighted a valuable nutritional composition of the local varieties, richer in polyphenols and with a lower ω-6/ω-3 ratio than the commercial ‘Lara’. ‘Blegette’ obtained the highest preference scores from consumers for both the visual aspect and tasting; however, the volatile organic compound profiles did not discriminate among the characterized cultivars. The described local varieties represent an interesting reservoir of walnut genetic diversity and quality properties, which deserve future investigation on agronomically useful traits (e.g., local adaptation and water usage) for a high-quality and sustainable production. Full article

Cis- isomers of lycopene have been reported to be more bioavailable than all-trans-lycopene. ‘Moonglow’(MG) is an orange heirloom tomato variety with >90% of its lycopene in the more bioavailable cis-isomeric form, compared to ‘Red’ (R) tomatoes with all trans- lycopene. Oestrogen deficiency after menopause changes the body composition and gut microbes. This study evaluated the plasma and liver lycopene concentration and the effect of lycopene on body composition and gut microbiota in female ovariectomised rats following ‘Red’ versus ‘Moonglow’ tomato feeding. Female Sprague Dawley rats underwent no surgery (Sham) or ovariectomy (OVX) surgery at the age of 16 weeks to induce a menopause-like status. Sham-C and OVX-C groups received a daily dietary supplement containing no tomato powder; ‘post-R’ and ‘post-MG’ received dietary supplements containing tomato powder for 8 weeks post-surgery; ‘pre-R’ and ‘pre-MG’ received dietary supplements containing tomato powder for 8 weeks prior to and post-surgery (N = 12–15/group). Each dietary tomato supplement contained 0.172 mg of lycopene (~0.35 mg lycopene/kg body weight/day). After 8 or 16 weeks of tomato supplementation, the mean plasma lycopene concentrations in ‘pre-MG’ and ‘post-MG’ groups were ~8X higher than ‘pre-R’ and ‘post-R’ groups, but liver lycopene stores did not differ between the groups. Caecal pH ranged from 6.79 ± 0.08 to 7.05 ± 0.11 and was not significantly different among the groups. Ovariectomy reduced the abundance of gut bacteria compared to Sham-C. Both ‘pre-MG’ and ‘post-MG’ restored the numbers of Lactobacillus, Enterococcus, Bacteroides and E. coli, whereas the ‘post-R’ group only increased Lactobacillus. A significant increase in fat mass and reduction in lean mass was found in all OVX rats compared to Sham-C after 16 weeks, and individual fat pad weights strongly correlated with total body fat, with no benefit from lycopene supplementation. These results demonstrate that ‘Moonglow’ cis- lycopene is significantly more bioavailable than ‘Red’ trans- lycopene and that ‘Moonglow’ tomato has a greater prebiotic-like effect. Full article

Agrobiodiversity is the foundation of our ecosystems and food supply. However, agrobiodiversity is declining rapidly. A prominent strategy to safeguard endangered varieties, an important component of agrobiodiversity, is their cultivation and preservation in their natural environments. In order to make the cultivation of these varieties attractive to farmers, a functioning value chain and communication concepts for these goods have to be developed. Using heirloom vegetable varieties as an example, we examine existing communication approaches for endangered varieties and evaluate their suitability to transport their added value to organic consumers. We furthermore examine organic consumers’ purchasing motives to buy heirloom vegetable varieties. We collected data in three focus group discussions in Berlin (Germany) in 2018. This exploratory study shows that existing communication approaches for heirloom vegetable varieties strongly appeal to altruistic and biospheric purchasing motives. However, our results suggest that egoistic and hedonic purchasing motives are just as important to organic consumers. Hence, existing communication approaches for heirloom vegetable varieties, including the “Red List of Endangered Local Crops”, are not entirely suitable to communicate the added value of biodiversity-enhancing products to consumers. Based on these results, we will develop a holistic communication scheme for heirloom vegetable varieties for organic supermarkets and further distribution channels in Germany. Full article