Alice Software

European Potato Genetic Resources

A European Union funded project on 'The conservation, characterisation and utilisation of secondary potato cultivars for ecological production' has used Alice System 3.0 to compile a database of the genetic biodiversity of Solanum Tuberosum L. The purpose of the project is twofold, to make the combined information available to all the participants and to identify the smallest possible collection of germplasm that encompasses the widest possible range of biodiversity.

Twenty five institutes from fifteen countries have contributed data to the database, the production of which is co-ordinated by the Scottish Agricultural Science Agency. Cultivars and breeding lines have been scored for up to 100 descriptors. These include origin, parentage, morphology, resistance to pests and diseases and horticultural and culinary characteristics.

In combining information from many sources, SASA has faced the challenges of importing and combining data supplied in a simple format into a single Alice database and of resolving conflicts in nomenclatural and descriptive data. Software tools have been built to assist with resolving these conflicts.

The database will be published on the Internet using the Alice database web publication tool, Aweb. The web allows all contributors, using any web browser, to review the information they have supplied, to compare it with that provided by their collaborators and to e-mail any changes to the co-ordinating centre. Because the source of all the information in the web is identified this is easy to do, providing an elegant and simple mechanism for keeping the database up-to-date.

The web is highly indexed, making it very easy to locate germplasm with specific characteristics. The resource of interest is therefore not only of interest to the project contributors but also to consumers, gardeners, germplasm curators, plant breeders and plant scientists.

For more information contact Dr. S. Carnegie, SASA, Craigs Road, East Craigs, Edinburgh EH12 8NJ, Scotland.

E-mail: Stuart.Carnegie@sasa.gov.uk