Pakistani wild Strawberry only please -help need from locals or those living in Northern areas

[MastanKhan]

America has good looking fruits, good tasting is another ball game.

My sister was telling me that when she came to the U S---the apples had the taste of pineapples, or peaches---genetic engr.

 

[Dubious]

Hi,

Studying fruits---you should have been in California----.

I know right....I never actually applied in USA my whole life...Might try for Postdoc dont hear the wedding bells anytime soon so might as well

My sister was telling me that when she came to the U S---the apples had the taste of pineapples, or peaches---genetic engr.

Well there is a variety of apple that does taste like banana, grapes and pineapple

America has good looking fruits, good tasting is another ball game.

Well it depends on where you buy.

In America alot of fruits are researched on and alot of properties are enhanced....now while "enhancing" some other property may or maynot get affected and it also depends like if the fruit was imported raw and ripen using gas then it will taste bland....

Banana is 1 example here...I have to buy raw ones and leave them to ripen on their own ....they taste better

 

[farhan_9909]

@Akheilos

 

[Dubious]

@Akheilos

Thanks janaab where is this and leaf ki sahi pix nai nazar ari it doesnt look like strawberry but its cousin

 

[WAJsal]

Thanks janaab where is this and leaf ki sahi pix nai nazar ari it doesnt look like strawberry but its cousin

Similar looking strawberries. Couldn't find some pictures.

 

[Dubious]

Similar looking strawberries. Couldn't find some pictures.

I will get one month break in December so will go to Pakistan....HOWEVER, I wont be able to see the fruits so it would be difficult...

My supervisor told me if someone can collect the berries (fruit) it would be useful...What we do is smash the fruit on tissue and let it dry then scratch it off the tissue- you get the dried seeds like this and these can then be analyzed in my lab in Europe...

Now I need to seriously find some academic person who can help me or a nature enthusiast who can do this for me coz I can only go on vacation in December ...and there are no fruits (berries) in December

 

[WAJsal]

I will get one month break in December so will go to Pakistan....HOWEVER, I wont be able to see the fruits so it would be difficult...

My supervisor told me if someone can collect the berries (fruit) it would be useful...What we do is smash the fruit on tissue and let it dry then scratch it off the tissue- you get the dried seeds like this and these can then be analyzed in my lab in Europe...

Now I need to seriously find some academic person who can help me or a nature enthusiast who can do this for me coz I can only go on vacation in December ...and there are no fruits (berries) in December

Hmm.

 

[Dubious]

@WAJsal @IrbiS @farhan_9909 @krash Hey if any of you guys find some berries - strawberries in the wild please collect the fruit (if possible) smash it on a piece of tissue and leave it to dry...I am going to Pakistan whole of December and am asking people to do this favour for me coz if I pick these up I can take them into Europe without need of paper work....

However, it would be useful if on the tissue you write where it is from (if you have coordinates that is better) and have some pix of leaves, flower and plant to go with the smashed fruit....If you cant find fruit than pix of leaves and flowers...Closeup of both is necessary to see if these are something new....

Just a point to note is the leaves HAVE to be trilobbed - meaning it is essentially 1 leaf divided into 3 parts and has jagged outline!

Here is how these can vary:

even leaves can vary

 

[Dubious]

@Akheilos

Yaar do you have a better pix of the leaves....They dont look trifoliate but they dont look like those of mulberries (which I thought this was initially) coz mulberry also has trifoliate leaves....What is this?

Ok I found something called thumbleberries:

or salmonberries:

 

[WAJsal]

Is only possible if i go to Gilgit. God knows when. @unleashed is in Gilgit maybe he can help.
@Akheilos ...........

 

[Dubious]

Is only possible if i go to Gilgit. God knows when. @unleashed is in Gilgit maybe he can help.
@Akheilos ...........

Thank you!!


Any PAKISTANI strawberry would do...Though I would prefer northern areas coz they have hidden treasure

 

[Dubious]

@WAJsal @IrbiS @farhan_9909 @krash Hey if any of you guys find some berries - strawberries in the wild please collect the fruit (if possible) smash it on a piece of tissue and leave it to dry...I am going to Pakistan whole of December and am asking people to do this favour for me coz if I pick these up I can take them into Europe without need of paper work....

However, it would be useful if on the tissue you write where it is from (if you have coordinates that is better) and have some pix of leaves, flower and plant to go with the smashed fruit....If you cant find fruit than pix of leaves and flowers...Closeup of both is necessary to see if these are something new....

Just a point to note is the leaves HAVE to be trilobbed - meaning it is essentially 1 leaf divided into 3 parts and has jagged outline!

Here is how these can vary:

even leaves can vary

@Arsalan

 

[Dubious]

@Arsalan

I replied to you here coz kissi ko uss thread par doray parray hain

you must have chosen Mango or Orange and then see how much response you get.. Strawberries are not very common in Pakistan. Still there are a lot of wild strawberries that you can find, perhaps you should consider visiting Muree and go for hiking in Galiyat, Auybia, Khansepur areas, all these have excellent access and accommodations facilities. If that is too much you can try Islamabad and stroll on the margalle hills, plenty of tracks there as well. If you want to up the game, go to Kaghan valley. Members from that area may be able to help as well. As for the AARI, i do not think anyone would be working on Strawberries here, again, that is not a very common crop. It have been only 7 8 years that we have started seeing on road side stand.
If you want to visit commercial farms, you can find some around Punjab University New campus in Lahore.

Well, the problem with Pakistani berries right now is that people have fallen for "american strawberry" instead of working on their indigenous sp. they have imported american strawberries and made fields of this...Everywhere I have looked so far people have identified american strawberries some even have wrongly claimed them to be wild strawberries.

The thing with any wild fruit is that it has a richer gene pool as it is original/ natural. While a selective breed like American strawberries has a narrow gene pool


My aim is to look through Pakistan's native gene pool to study it and see if we our strawberries have unique genes...

The problem is I will only get long term breaks in Decembers when there will be no fruits to identify and hence am looking for enthusiasts who do go up certain valleys to do some collecting for me while they are up and around. I have tried contacting "experts" but none seem interested in getting back to me so it is annoying!

The commercial farms are the problem....almost ALL have American berries growing so if 1 disease comes in ALL (100%) of these will die off because most are just clones of the same mother plant.....or at least a progeny of the same mother plant!

I rather we start our own research and be self sufficient than rely on foreign crops...

Besides my work is on wild berries I cant be bothered about these specially selected breed!

 

[Arsalan]

@Arsalan

I replied to you here coz kissi ko uss thread par doray parray hain

First, i will like to know more about this? what happened? have someone objected to something ??? WHO and to WHAT?? Please do let me know.

Well brother, the problem with Pakistani berries right now is that people have fallen for "american strawberry" instead of working on their indigenous sp. they have imported American strawberries and made fields of this...Everywhere I have looked so far people have identified american strawberries some even have wrongly claimed them to be wild strawberries.

The thing with any wild fruit is that it has a richer gene pool as it is original/ natural. While a selective breed like American strawberries has a narrow gene pool


My aim is to look through Pakistan's native gene pool to study it and see if we our strawberries have unique genes...

The problem is I will only get long term breaks in Decembers when there will be no fruits to identify and hence am looking for enthusiasts who do go up certain valleys to do some collecting for me while they are up and around. I have tried contacting "experts" but none seem interested in getting back to me so it is annoying!

The commercial farms are the problem....almost ALL have American berries growing so if 1 disease comes in ALL (100%) of these will die off because most are just clones of the same mother plant.....or at least a progeny of the same mother plant!

I rather we start our own research and be self sufficient than rely on foreign crops...

Besides my work is on wild berries I cant be bothered about these specially selected breed!

Ok i am beginning to understand now. You are trying to work on a more local breed that can be grown in farms. It will diversify gene pool and make the crop resistant to some attack that can kill all crop if they are of same kind, diversify the type that is being planted and you can avoid this situation, right?

however, there is on thing i will like to know, and please, i mean no disrespect to you nor i am undermining your research work. It is just that i am curious and want to know. How much beneficial it will be for Pakistan? i mean, again, Strawberry is NOT our main crop. People wont be interested in much investment in it. If it was some major crop you would have contributed a lot good by developing even some small modification to benefit the production or make it more resisted to pest attack or any such thing.

The other thing is that even if you develop some native breed that have some benefits will it be that good in taste? will the yield be same? will there be any market potential? Like people know about that strawberry that you call "American" and like it, not so sure if they will like any native one they don't even know about.

PLEASE, I MEAN NO DISRESPECT, you have chosen this subject so there must be some reason.

All said, i will revert that you will need to get out yourself. I do not think you will find people with interest in this crop that can help you in collecting samples. You will have to travel yourself. AS far as i am concerned, i promise that when i go i will keep my eyes open and will collect if i find any interesting thing But i live in Faisalabad, don't know when i will visit those areas.

 

[Dubious]

First, i will like to know more about this? what happened? have someone objected to something ??? WHO and to WHAT?? Please do let me know.

We went from Mangoes to Strawberries - a tangent. Kindly restrict the discussions or move them to the "Whatever" thread, they disrupt the flow of the thread.

Discussions are fine, but please restrict them in size and avoid tangents, I believe xyz already had this discussion with Armstrong a few pages back.

Thanks

Ok i am beginning to understand now. You are trying to work on a more local breed that can be grown in farms. It will diversify gene pool and make the crop resistant to some attack that can kill all crop if they are of same kind, diversify the type that is being planted and you can avoid this situation, right?

Hehehe...Right now we are in initial stages of distribution studies of native strawberries and their effect to different climate...

To go to what you suggest we need to know about the basics of the crops there....I have read a few studies but most work on Chemistry rather than molecular biology so it has been really tough to get basic info I wouldnt mind doing it myself - working from scratch but for that I need native populations...about 10-20 plants is a good start....to see what kind of gene pool exists if it is something unique than good otherwise ALOT OF work is done on native plants of Europe and when you build the basics then you know what to fix...

however, there is on thing i will like to know, and please, i mean no disrespect to you nor i am undermining your research work. It is just that i am curious and want to know. How much beneficial it will be for Pakistan? i mean, again, Strawberry is NOT our main crop. People wont be interested in much investment in it. If it was some major crop you would have contributed a lot good by developing even some small modification to benefit the production or make it more resisted to pest attack or any such thing.

Well, we are using Strawberry as a MODEL crop to understand molecular mechanisms meaning if we find genes and can uncode their function we can use the same process / genes / mechanisms for other crops too...

I know strawberry isnt the main crop but the very fact that we have a rich diversity in Northern areas is welcoming to study them and make them known to the world so that others can work on it (If Pakistanis arent interested to explore).

I have 1st hand knowledge that there are really unique genes in the crops found in northern area ..I have worked on Pakistani barley it has a higher nutrient content than European barley...But Pakistan ignores it like anything

I also know Pakistani rice and wheat is of better quality but due to alot of research done and collaborations with india, European rice and wheat has become better and enough work is being done to help improve indian one...SO we are left behind....

To achieve something one must be willing to study the thing and discover the uniqueness if you dont start someone else will and india has already seeped into British research and now is getting into European research....though Africa is still occupying much of the niche!

Basically it will help us back if we develop collaborations then it is easier to bring in other crops...I can work on Pakistani cereal (wheat/ barley / rice) However, it might be a little too late as European scientists are busy collaborating with india so it would be tough but if someone really was into it they would have taken the initiative to write and develop collaborations....

Instead of importing berries wouldnt it be better to use our own, research, improve them and make them export quality?

The other thing is that even if you develop some native breed that have some benefits will it be that good in taste? will the yield be same? will there be any market potential? Like people know about that strawberry that you call "American" and like it, not so sure if they will like any native one they don't even know about.

You see when people want everything pronto they do mistakes....American strawberries taste good which are a result of over a decade worth of research....Question is who in Pakistan would invest or is interested in starting so that down the road our next generation can stop importing and start exporting?

PLEASE, I MEAN NO DISRESPECT, you have chosen this subject so there must be some reason.

I have chosen this by chance I actually wanted to research on cereal but like I said the European market on that is collaborating with india and I didnt want to research in india and benefit them...I was actually offered from 1 of our collaborators to help with indian Sorghum I laughed it off saying i wont get visa (though in reality I didnt want to try).....and my supervisor sided me at that time...

That was during my MSc. and I was in UK.

Now for PhD I am in Europe and I am trying to get Pakistan excited regarding research for their own future...Instead of becoming dependent and buying GMO or selective cultivars I want it to produce native crops which are superior....THIS can ONLY be done if we start research now....though too late but better late than never!

All said, i will revert that you will need to get out yourself. I do not think you will find people with interest in this crop that can help you in collecting samples. You will have to travel yourself. AS far as i am concerned, i promise that when i go i will keep my eyes open and will collect if i find any interesting thing But i live in Faisalabad, don't know when i will visit those areas.

Well, the problem is I cant leave Europe in Summer coz my plants in the field need observing as I work on mechanisms of flowering and we start putting plants in the field around summer and leave them till late autumn (well depending on what we are checking)

Hence, I just want someone (who is travelling for leisure) who can photograph close up pix of flowers, leaves and fruits AND just pick some wild strawberry fruits and smash them on a tissue and keep them until I go to Pakistan in winter (that is how we dry the seeds)..Coz if I go in winter I wont be able to see the fruit and no flowers even....