Author: NBC

The interns from the Collage of Natural Resources presented their internship experiences and learnings at the Centre. They were awarded internship program completion certificates.

A new aquatic snail species named as Erhaia norbui is discovered from Uesu, Haa at 2700 meters above sea level. The study paper is published in the ZooKeys February 2022 issue.

The shell is pale greyish with a globular body whorl and a roundish aperture. The tiny snail was discovered and collected by Sangay Norbu working at the Bhutan Livestock Development Corporation (BLDC) in the spring of 2020. Since then, the snail samples were jointly studied by a team from the National Biodiversity Centre (NBC), Naturalis Biodiversity Centre in the Netherlands, and Justus Liebig University Giessen in Germany. The description of the new snail samples were carried out based on the molecular (DNA) and morphological studies. The snail is named after Sangay Norbu, who discovered the species. With this addition, Bhutan has now four species of Erhaia species and around 78 recorded snail species. The discovery indicates the good health of the ecosystem in the country.

The type specimens are deposited at the National Invertebrates Repository at the National Biodiversity Centre in Serbithang, Thimphu.

Link to the article: https://zookeys.pensoft.net/article/77900/element/2/13//

In what is known as developing “Climate Resilient Varieties” (CRV) in the face of the emerging challenges of climate change, the Evolutionary Plant Breeding (EPB) trials have been introduced in Bhutan in 2019 through the EPB project which is funded by International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) through Biodiversity International. The EPB project is coordinated by NBC in collaboration with relevant organizations like National Centre for Organic Agriculture (NCOA), Yusipang and Agriculture Research and Development Centres (ARDC Bajo and Samtenling), Agriculture and Research Development Sub-Centre Tsirang and Dzongkhags and Gewogs agriculture sector of Tsento (Paro), Kabjisa (Punakha), Tsangkha, Mendrelgang (Tsirang) and Singgye (Sarpang).

The evolutionary populations for bean were prepared by mixing the six most popular traditional varieties Gew Bori,  Pole Bean (Grey), Boshi Bori, Kalo Gew Bori, Mixture. The crop populations with a high level of genetic diversity are being subjected to the forces of natural selection. Thus, evolving crop populations are expected to be climate-resilient and sustainably high-performance crop varieties.Field Day: The Agriculture and Research Development Sub-Centre Tsirang in collaboration with National Biodiversity Centre (NBC) and Gewog Agriculture Sector of Mendelgang organized the Field Day on “Participatory assessment of evolutionary plant breeding (EPB) trial on Beans” at Tashipang under Mendelgang Gewog, Tsirang on 29^th December 2021.

The Field Day at Tashipang was participated by a total of 22 bean growing farmers consisting of 13 females and 9 males from Mendelgang Gewog along with the Gewog Agriculture Extension Officer, researchers from the ARDSC Tsirang, NBC and 4 CNR interns.

During the field day, farmers were briefed on the importance of maintaining crop diversity in the on-farm and EPB project activities and the importance of the trial.

Then the farmers were grouped into a group of men and women to account for differences if any in the gender-based preferred traits for beans. Women group enlisted more preferred traits viz like yield, price, cooking and eating quality/taste, adaptability and grain color. Whereas men group enlisted fewer preferred traits than by women group viz. price, yield adaptability. Cooking quality and color of grains were not enlisted by the men group.  

The field day provided a rare opportunity for participants to observe and compare the Evolutionary Population mixture and 5 pure line bean varieties namely, Gew Bori,  Pole Bean (Grey), Boshi Bori, Kalo Gew Bori.  The 3 best varieties Boshi Bori, Gew Bori, Kalo Gew Bori  were selected by the farmers. The phenotypic data like number of pods per plant, plant height and yield were collected.

Such EPB trials are also ongoing at Kabjisa in Punakha and Tsento in Paro and Singgye in Sarpang for rice.

Bhutan is rich in biodiversity and so in terms of crop diversity. Crop diversity is a component of agro-biodiversity which is a subset of biodiversity. Crop diversity is the foundation of agriculture, enabling it to evolve and adapt to meet the never-ending challenge of sustainably producing sufficient and nutritious food for an increasing population. Crop diversity is a key to seed, food and nutrition (SFN) security and is a prerequisite for sustainable agriculture. Crop diversity translates to nutritional diversity and therefore the dietary diversity that contributes to the good health of the population. Crop diversity is the reservoir of diverse genes for current and future crop breeding and varietal development to meet the changing needs of the nation. Crop diversity is one of the mechanisms for climate change adaptation. Crop diversity is intricately linked to Bhutanese traditions and culture. There are many crops and their varieties that are packed with numerous vitamins and minerals some of which are not even discovered by scientific research.

Apparently, despite tremendous benefits to humanity rendered by the natural biological wealth, the prevalence of genetic erosion of many crops and varieties are on the rise in Bhutan.

Therefore National Biodiversity Centre in collaboration with Gewog Agriculture Sector of Gongdue Gewog, Mongar Dzongkhag conducted Crop Diversity Inventory on the 12^th January 2022 at Gongdue Gewog, Mongar Dzongkhag.

The Crop Diversity Inventory was conducted with the following objectives:

1. To create education and awareness among the farming communities on the importance of crop diversity
2. To assess the extent of crop diversity existing in the farmers’ field.
3. To identify crops and varieties and the donor farmer for germplasm collection.

The meeting was attended by 20 farmers consisting of 4 male and 16 female farmers representing different Chiwogs including Agriculture Extension Officer, Gondue Gewog.

1. Introduction to biodiversity, agro-biodiversity, and crop diversity:

The farmer participants were first introduced to the concept of biodiversity, agro-biodiversity and then narrowed down to crop biodiversity. Then the farmer participants were presented with the various rationales for the importance of crop diversity. Farmers were also informed of the trend and various developments in the global arena when it comes to crop diversity.  Participants were also informed of the various efforts being put in place by the government in securing diversity in the gene bank and also maintaining on-farm diversity.

• Inventory of crop diversity being cultivated in Gongdue Gewog:

Education and awareness was followed by inventorying of crop and varietal diversity being cultivated by the farmers of Gongdue Gewog.

The on-farm crop diversity inventory revealed the existence of a total of 60 crops consisting of about 120 crop varieties viz cardamom, maize, rice, foxtail millet, finger millet, bitter buckwheat, sweet buckwheat, barley, little millet, mustard, perilla, amaranth, quinoa, sorghum, groundnut, beans, lablab beans, cowpea, azuki bean, soybean, peas, black, gram, potato, sweet potato, tapioca, yam, colocasia, orange, peach, plum, pineapple, avocado, litchi, mango, pear, banana, guava, areca nut, papaya, pomegranate, passion fruit, sugarcane, chayote, pumpkin, cucumber, chili, brinjal, tree tomato, carrot, reddish, spinach, mustard green, cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli, coriander, garlic, onion, ginger, turmeric, stuffing cucumber or slipper gourd, etc.

The inventory also revealed that approximately 10% of crop diversity existing in Gongdue Gewog are improved or imported varieties whereas 90% consisted of local/traditional crops and crop varieties.

Gondue Gewog exhibited very high levels of crops and varietal diversity. Total of 47 varieties showed an increase in the cultivation trend and 43 varieties showed stable in cultivation trend. Unfortunately, a very high number of 30 crops varieties showed a decrease in cultivation trend, and 8 crop varieties were reported to have been lost. There are numerous reasons for the decline in cultivation trend or loss of certain crops which have been documented.

The on-farm crop diversity inventory information will be used subsequently to build National on-farm Crop Diversity Database.

1. Germplasm collection

After enlisting the crop diversity being cultivated in Gongdue Gewog, donor farmers/custodian farmers were identified for different crops for which the seeds are currently available. The germplasm collection is on-going for the selected crops and crop varieties from those  identified donor farmers/custodian farmers during the inventory.