Germplasm

Germplasm is the highest level concept. A germplasm record 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. Typically a seed lot is defined by when, where, and how it was harvested.

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.

Packages

Packages represent physical entities. Each harvested seed lot could be stored in one or more package. “Packages” can be envelopes, bags, flasks, or any other kind of container. Packages are used as the source for experiments.

Seed quantities are associated with packages and packages can be assigned to specific inventory storage facilities.

Experiment

An experiment is a top-level activity in the EBS. Experiments are designed to create new germplasm and/or to observe the performance of existing germplasm.

Each experiment can be composed of one or more occurrence. Each occurrence is an instance of the experiment that includes some or all of the entries included in the original experiment entry list.

Occurrences

In many cases, a nursery experiment would only have one occurrence whereas a trial experiment would typically have more than one occurrence. But, the system has a flexible data model that does not impose strict rules on the maximum or a minimum number of occurrences associated with different types of breeding experiments.

Location

A location is the functional unit of operation for breeding experiments. It can include one or more occurrences that are planted together in the same planting area. Typically occurrences within a location would be managed in the same way and have the same plot size parameters, etc.

Each occurrence must be assigned to a location to be operational.

Sites

Sites are at the top level and would typically refer to a stable place such as a:

• Breeding station managed by a CG Center

• Experimental station managed by a NARS partner

• Agricultural university

• Seed company facility

• Farmer’s field

Fields

Fields are one level below sites. At official facilities, these would also likely be stable over time, for example, a particular block at an experimental station. But in the case of a farmer’s field, the site and field may both represent the same geospatial area.

Planting Areas

Planting Areas are one level below Fields and describe the actual area that is planted with a uniform type of plot. In many cases, the Planting Area will cover the whole area of a field. But, if a field needs to be sub-divided, for example, into 2-row and 4-row plots, then two different planting areas would be created. Similarly, if part of a field were used to plant 2.5 m-long plots and the rest of the field were used to plant 5 m-long plot , two different planting areas could be created.