The International Wheat Information System™

opens the door to a wealth of information on wheat genetic resources for researchers who are collecting, conserving and improving wheat for   poor farmers of the developing world.

What Is IWIS?

IWIS™ is a system that manages and integrates diverse information pertaining to bread wheat, durum wheat and triticale. The body of data on these crops is large and intricate. By providing a common language to identify individual wheat and triticale germplasm uniquely, IWIS seamlessly joins conservation, utilization and exchange of genetic material. IWIS is software and information to:

• Add value to seed by linking it to extensive genealogical and performance data.
• Empower national programs by making data from many countries fully available.
• Link islands of data from wheat research around the world.
• Integrate disciplines by placing data from diverse sources in a single database.
• Supply the essential knowledge base for wheat improvement.

Background

A wealth of wheat genetic resources has accumulated in many venues, incuding research centers and laboratories around the the world. Genebanks maintain volumes of data on specific traits, places of origin, and performance of the wheats they conserve. An enormous amount of data was gathered through international wheat trials begun in the 1950s. Over the years, the trials have included thousands of wheats and produced invaluable data that, until now, were difficult to interpret and use.

By providing each wheat with a unique identifier, IWIS brings together this widely varied information from national trials. Using the IWIS identifier, scientists, breeders, genebank curators, physiologists, and cereal chemists can pinpoint a particular wheat despite its numerous names, trace its family tree, and then explore what is known about the material.

IWIS in General

IWIS has two major components: the Wheat Pedigree Management System, which assigns and maintains unique identifiers and genealogies, and the Wheat Data Management System, which manages results from field and laboratory studies and data on known genes. IWIS:

• Provides quick, user-friendly options for managing and searching wheat data.
• Gathers information from genebanks, laboratories, and field tests so that researchers can put it to work in plant improvement programs.
• Through a unique identifier that traces the ancestry of individual wheats, makes it possible to estimate the degree of relatedness among wheats.
• Allows breeders to increase genetic diversity by selecting materials of divergent parentage for crosses, thereby reducing wheat's vulnerability to disease, climate change, and other stresses.
• Updates family trees as additional data on ancestry become available.
• Helps researchers avoid duplication of expensive evaluations.
  

Who Benefits from IWIS?

The immediate beneficiaries of IWIS are crop scientists in national agricultural research programs and other research institutions, who can now readily locate, access, and obtain information needed for research.

The International Crop Information System (ICIS)

IWIS has given rise to a collaborative project between CIMMYT and other institutions, including IRRI and ICRISAT, aimed at developing the International Crop Information System (ICIS). Expanding the data management features of IWIS, ICIS will enhance data management facilities for wheat and a range of other crops.

The International Wheat Information System (IWIS)™ has been updated and is available on CD-ROM. Barley data have been included in IWIS4 with the cooperation of the ICARDA/CIMMYT Barley Improvement Program.

The data contained in the new CD-ROM were gathered over several years from researchers and organizations throughout the world. Because of the diversity of conditions under which such data were obtained, maintained, and transmitted, their accuracy cannot be verified.

IWIS CD Applications and Installation

Version 4 of IWIS is contained on two CD-ROMs. Disc A contains Phenotypic and Genetic Data collected on germplasm distributed through the International Wheat Improvement Network, 1989-2001.

Disc B contains the following IWIS4 applications: Coefficient of Parentage, which calculates a matrix of measures of pedigree-based co-ancestry for a list of bread wheat, durum wheat, triticale, and barley genotypes; Dendrogram, which displays names, known genes, or passport data on branches of family trees and calculates the theoretical percentage contribution of ancestors to a given pedigree; Cross Expansion, which presents the same information as a dendrogram, using the Purdy notation system for pedigrees; Pedigree Identifiers, which, given a name or pedigree, retrieves IWIS™ identifiers; Reports, which generates tabular reports from the Wheat Pedigree Management System; and Wheat Genetic Resources, which provides CIMMYT’s accession catalogue of small grain cereals for perusal.

The new CD also contains:

• Triticum GRIP, version 3

• IWIS-Bib

• CIMMYT Publications Catalogue

Triticum GRIP, Version 3

The Genetic Resources Information Package (GRIP) for Triticum and Related Species is a catalogue of cultivars, breeding lines, landraces, and other germplasm used in wheat, triticale, and rye improvement. GRIP integrates the documentation and management of plant genetic resource information at the international level. It provides the following information for over 124,500 genotypes worldwide:

• Names

• Synonyms

• Abbreviations

• Pedigrees

• Selection histories

• Origins

• Attributes

• Sources

• Types of germplasm

• Identified genes

• Growth habit

• Accession numbers

IWIS-Bib (Cultivars)

The IWIS-Bib database is a supplement to IWIS. Each record in IWIS-Bib identifies a publication, and each publication describes a cultivar. The database now contains more than 6,000 records. Some countries are better represented than others, and the database compiler would welcome the cooperation of colleagues worldwide in improving coverage for all countries. Interested individuals are invited to contact the compiler at: J.Woolston@cgiar.org

A regularly updated version of IWIS-Bib is available on this website at http://www.cimmyt.org/libtools/iwis_bib.htm

CIMMYT Publications

CIMMYT Publications Catalogue and order form is available at:
http://www.cimmyt.org/english/wps/publs/catalogdb/index.cfm

IWIS CD Bibliographic Information

Correct citation: Payne, T.S., B. Skovmand, C.G. Lopez, E. Brandon, and A. McNab (eds.). 2002. The International Wheat Information System (IWIS™), Version 4, 2001. On compact disk. Mexico, D.F.: CIMMYT.

AGROVOC Descriptors: Wheats: hard wheat; Triticum; Triticum durum; barley; germplasm; germplasm conservation; genomes; genetic resources; gene pools; gene banks; information systems; diffusion of information; databases; developing countries

AGRIS Category Codes: F30 Plant Genetics and Breeding; C30 Documentation and Information

Dewey Decimal Classification: 633.11 INT

ISBN: 970-648-089-7