Genebanks hold comprehensive collections of cultivars, landraces and crop wild relatives of all major food crops, but their detailed characterization has so far been limited to sparse core sets. The analysis of genome-wide genotyping-by-sequencing data for almost all barley accessions of the German ex situ genebank provides insights into the global population structure of domesticated barley and points out redundancies and coverage gaps in one of the world's major genebanks. Our large sample size and dense marker data afford great power for genome-wide association scans. We detect known and novel loci underlying morphological traits differentiating barley genepools, find evidence for convergent selection for barbless awns in barley and rice and show that a major-effect resistance locus conferring resistance to bymovirus infection has been favored by traditional farmers. This study outlines future directions for genomics-assisted genebank management and the utilization of germplasm collections for linking natural variation to human selection during crop evolution.

Summary Enabling data reuse and knowledge discovery is increasingly critical in modern science, and requires an effort towards standardising data publication practices. This is particularly challenging in the plant phenotyping domain, due to its complexity and heterogeneity. We have produced the MIAPPE 1.1 release, which enhances the existing MIAPPE standard in coverage, to support perennial plants, in structure, through an explicit data model, and in clarity, through definitions and examples. We evaluated MIAPPE 1.1 by using it to express several heterogeneous phenotyping experiments in a range of different formats, to demonstrate its applicability and the interoperability between the various implementations. Furthermore, the extended coverage is demonstrated by the fact that one of the datasets could not have been described under MIAPPE 1.0. MIAPPE 1.1 marks a major step towards enabling plant phenotyping data reusability, thanks to its extended coverage, and especially the formalisation of its data model, which facilitates its implementation in different formats. Community feedback has been critical to this development, and will be a key part of ensuring adoption of the standard.

The great efforts spent in the maintenance of past diversity in genebanks are rationalized by the potential role of plant genetic resources in future crop .

Genebanks play an important role in the long-term conservation of plant genetic resources and are complementary to the conservation of diversity in farmers’ fields and in nature. In this context, documentation plays a critical role. Without well-structured documentation, it is not possible to make statements about the value of a resource, especially with regard to its potential for breeding and research. In particular, comprehensive information management is a prerequisite for the further development of genebank collections. This requires detailed information about the composition of a collection, thus allowing statements about which species and/or regions of origin are under-represented. This task is of strategic importance, especially due to the threats to crop plants and their wild relatives caused by advancing climate change. Both the actual conservation management and the fulfilment of legal obligations depend on information. Hence, documentation units have been established in almost all genebanks worldwide. They all face the challenge that knowledge about genebank accessions must be permanently managed and passed on across generations. International standards such as Multi-Crop Passport Descriptors (MCPD) have been established for the exchange of data between genebanks, and allow the operation of international information systems, such as the World Information and Early Warning System on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (WIEWS), the European Search Catalogue for Plant Genetic Resources (EURISCO) or Genesys.

The German Federal ex situ Genebank of Agricultural and Horticultural Crop Species is the largest collection of its kind in the countries of the European Union and amongst the 10 largest collections worldwide. Beside its enormous scientific value as a safeguard of plant biodiversity, the plant genetic resources maintained are also of high importance for breeders to provide new impulses. The complex processes of managing such a collection are supported by the Genebank Information System (GBIS). GBIS is an important source of information for researchers and plant breeders, e.g. for identifying appropriate germplasm for breeding purposes. In addition, the access to genebank material as a sovereign task is also of high interest to the general public. Moreover, GBIS acts as a data source for global information systems, such as the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) or the European Search Catalogue for Plant Genetic Resources (EURISCO).Database URL: http://gbis.ipk-gatersleben.de/