ICIS International Crop Information System: technical development manual -- version 6

Abstract

The International Crop Information System (ICIS) is a database system that provides integrated management of global information on crop improvement and management both for individual crops and for farming systems. Ambiguous germplasm identification, difficulty in tracing pedigree information and lack of integration between genetic resources, breeding, evaluation, utilization and management data have constrained development of more knowledge-intensive crop research efforts. ICIS is being developed by agricultural scientists and information technicians in several centres of the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), in Advanced Research Institutions (ARls), and in National Agricultural Research Systems (NARSs) to address these constraints. Crop specific implementations of ICIS provide a comprehensive crop information systems that are based on unique identification of germplasm, management of nomenclature (including homonyms and synonyms) and the retention of all pedigree information The Genealogy Management System performs these functions and links data from all disciplines in the crop research process. The distinct, but similarly structured, crop databases result in focused data management for each crop at the same time as benefiting from collaboration in the complex and expensive processes of software development, testing, and training. The common structure of ICIS implementations will also enable the integration of characterization and utilization data from different crops as envisaged by the System Wide Information Network for Genetic Resources (SINGER). Collaborative software development is possible through adopting an open programming environment, allowing access to different database systems through the Open Database Connectivity protocol (ODBC) and facilitating multi-language programming through Dynamic Link Libraries. Internationalization of the information systems is facilitated by a dual database design, which gives remote users access to the central database through wide are networking or, on compact disk, and at the same time, allows capture of new pedigrees and data into a private, local database which can be exported periodically to the central database at the user's discretion. The resulting crop systems will be invaluable for all researchers working on genetic resources or crop improvement, especially NARS scientists who will benefit from access to the latest international information linked unambiguously to specific germplasm. Just as these scientists have participated in the global exchange of genetic resources through the CGIAR's extensive networks, ICIS will allow them to benefit from and participate in the development and deployment of the new, knowledge-intensive, crop improvement systems that link information to the seeds or propagating material being exchanged.