The EBS has three levels of information about germplasm:

1. Germplasm

2. Seed lot

3. Package

Germplasm

Germplasm is the highest-level concept. It is any unique genotype developed and used by breeding programs. It can refer to:

• A new F1 cross

• A segregating F3 “line”

• A fixed doubled haploid line

• A landrace accession from the germplasm bank

• A single seed in a single-seed descent breeding pipeline

• . . . or any other kind of germplasm

Seed Lots

Whenever germplasm is harvested and preserved, it is associated with a seed lot. It is the set or batch of seeds coming from the same origin. Typically, a seed lot is defined by when, where, and how it was harvested or imported.

For early-generation materials, we would expect that each germplasm would only be associated with one seed lot. But, when materials are considered to be fixed or static, each new seed increase or regeneration will produce a new seed lot, but it will not produce new germplasm.

For example:

Package

Packages represent tangible quantities of seed stored at specific facilities. Each harvested seed lot will have a package record characterized by its quantity and storage. They could also be stored in one or more packages.

Packages are used as seed sources of entries in experiments or shipments.

General relationships:

Open

Example of early generation / segregating materials:

Open

Example of fixed materials:

Open