Ambiguous germplasm identification; difficulty in tracing pedigree information; and lack of integration between genetic resources, characterization, breeding, evaluation, and utilization data are constraints in developing knowledge-intensive crop improvement programs. To address these constraints, the International Crop Information System (www.icis.cgiar.org), a database system for the management and integration of global information on genetic resources and crop improvement for any crop, was developed by genetic resource specialists, crop scientists, and information technicians associated with the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research and collaborative partners. The International Rice Information System (www.iris.irri.org) is the rice (Oryza species) implementation of the International Crop Information System. New components are now being added to the International Rice Information System to handle the diversity of rice functional genomics data including genomic sequence data, molecular genetic data, expression data, and proteomic information. Users access information in the database through stand-alone programs and Web interfaces, which offer specialized applications and customized views to researchers with different interests.International germplasm exchange was the engine of the Green Revolution. In the past, however, much of the important information generated from this exchange was accessible only locally, in field books or researchers' files. Although major international initiatives for germplasm collection and conservation followed the Green Revolution, much collected material is still not used because it is difficult to access. As a result, the potential impact upon agriculture has not yet been realized. Now the free exchange of information, through international crop information systems, should provide the foundation for a second revolution that adds value to germplasm by seamlessly uniting its conservation, evaluation, utilization, and exchange.Furthermore, new technologies in molecular biology and genomics mean that traditional phenotypic information must be linked to large quantities of sequence and genetic information so that functional genomics and allele mining activities can speed up germplasm enhancement.The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) devised an information strategy and developed software on a mainframe computer during the 1980s to facilitate unambiguous identification of wheat (Triticum species and related species) germplasm, thereby establishing links between information from different sources. The read-only International Wheat Information System compact disk (Fox et al., 1996) duplicated data-querying capabilities and some of the genealogical diagnostics of the mainframe version. In 1995, CIMMYT and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) canvassed other Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) centers to establish a project to develop an International Crop Information System (ICIS; Fox and Skovmand, 1996)...
