The focus of the research group is on the Development of a new Genebank Information System (GBIS) in the frame of the project "Establishment of a central Federal ex situ Genebank for agricultural and horticultural crops: fusion of the genebanks of IPK Gatersleben and BAZ Braunschweig" (2002-2006), funded jointly by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Federal Ministry of Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture (BMVEL). GBIS is based on the database management system ORACLE 10g. After an analysis of the user requirements, the design and implementation of GBIS/M (M=Management), the subsystem for the internal genebank management, was started in 2004. GBIS/M will centralise the Genebank’s data management. The daily work of the genebank staff will be reflected by the system. The system will be handed over to the users in several releases during 2005. Datasets from the current systems in Gatersleben and the IPK branch stations in Malchow/Poel and Groß Lüsewitz, as well as from the former Braunschweig system, are being consolidated and migrated into GBIS/M. These datasets will be maintained within the present systems until their functions will be taken over by GBIS/M completely. A web-based external search system (GBIS/I; I=Information, Internet) will be developed by end 2005. It will allow the users to extract relevant information about genebank material and to order seed samples via a shopping-basket interface.
The core of the present Genebank Information System (accession database) in Gatersleben under the database management system FoxPro is comprised of passport data, i.e. information about the identity, history, geographical origin and the botanical classification of the material. The present dataset consists of ca. 132,200 accessions, due to the incorporation of the former Braunschweig Genebank in 2003, and after the disentanglement of the collections between Gatersleben and the Malchow branch station. The publicly available genebank material is web-searchable since 1996, and the search results can be displayed or downloaded. Web searches by the users lead to ca. 30 percent of all seed requests. Another accession search exists in the frame of the Mansfeld Server. Accession data are being exported to international databases, so-called "Central Crop Databases", in an agreed-upon format (FAO/IPGRI Multi-Crop Passport Descriptors), especially in the frame of the European Co-operative Programme for Crop Genetic Resources Networks (ECP/GR).

Characterisation and evaluation data gathered during multiplication and rejuvenation of the accessions (so-called scoring data) are being recorded continuously, in cooperation with the research group Resources Genetics and Reproduction. Seed stock data such as amount and germination test results, as well as the material preserved in vitro, are being documented. The preparation of multiplication and rejuvenation activities is supported by the present information system: sowing lists, field book pages, and various labels for field and greenhouse plots, and for seed storage and distribution are being printed on demand. An image database with photographs of genebank accessions is under construction. Data from the weather station are being automatically recorded in short time intervals, and published on the web in cooperation with the research group Plant Data Warehouse (PDW).

Other databases and projects

"Mansfeld's World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops" was developed from 1998 to 2003 within the project Federal Information System Genetic Resources (BIG), funded by BMBF. It is based on Mansfeld’s Encyclopedia of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops (P. Hanelt & IPK, eds.; Springer 2001) and contains data on taxonomy, nomenclature, common names, distribution, uses, and domestication history of ca. 6.100 species of cultivated plants worldwide. The Mansfeld Database is being complemented by image data (original drawings, herbarium specimens, genebank accessions). Via the BIG Portal, both the Mansfeld Database and the Accessions Database can be searched together with databases provided by other project partners, such as botanical gardens’ holdings in Germany and data from floristic mapping. Using the "Taxonomic Nomenclature Checker" (developed together with Th. Metz, International Rice Research Institute), it is possible to check, and if necessary, correct lists of botanical names against those from the Mansfeld Database.

The "European Barley Database" (EBDB) of the ECP/GR was further developed and extended in the frame of the EU-funded project "Evaluation and Conservation of Barley Genetic Resources to Improve Their Accessibility to Breeders in Europe" (1999-2002). It contains ca. 156,000 entries. The database was transferred to ORACLE; the web interface is presently being newly developed in cooperation with the IPK research group PDW.

The research group participates in the following two subprojects of the project "Botanical Node of GBIF-Germany" financed by BMBF:

• "Digitising parts of the IPK Herbarium of Cultivated Plants": herbarium samples are being scanned in cooperation with the research group Taxonomy of Plant Genetic Resources in the frame of the project „Virtual Herbarium“. Label information is being entered, and both images and label data are made accessible via the Mansfeld Database.

• "Connection of the BIG partners’ databases with GBIF": IPK is configuring its Accession Database and the Mansfeld Database as data providers for the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). The Accession Database was connected to GBIF in cooperation with the Biodiversity Informatics Group of the Botanical Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin-Dahlem using the ABCD Schema and the BioCASE Wrapper. The Mansfeld Database will be connected to GBIF during 2005.

In the frame of the EU project "European Network of Biodiversity Information" (ENBI), the Mansfeld Database will be linked to, and harmonised with the Euro+Med Plant Base.

The research group is also involved in the creation, maintenance, evaluation and documentation of the International Barley Core Collection (BCC), a research collection presently consisting of ca. 1,300 accessions, which are searchable both via the EBDB and the web database of the Genebank.

A Database for Checklists of Cultivated Plants has been developed to support exploration and collecting activities for cultivated plants in selected countries (among others, Cuba, Italy, Korea). The database allows to create country-specific checklists and to compare floras of cultivated plants. At present it is being transferred from Visual FoxPro to Oracle and complemented by a user-friendly graphical user interface.

The head of the research group is chairman of the Working Group on Barley and the Network Coordinating Group of the Cereals Network in the frame of ECP/GR