News from France. CIRAD Pineapple genebank database online

As a result of years of collection and germplasm exchange, and of an EU-funded project in which institutions from Brazil France and Venezuela collaborated, CIRAD has gathered hundreds of pineapple cultivars and species of the genus Ananas an wide collection of over 600 accessions has been established in Martinique, FWI, at the CIRAD research centre. This collectio includes a wide range of genotypes from many geographic origins, and is presently the most diverse in existence. All accessio the genebank have been evaluated using common methods for the characterization and evaluation of pineapple germplasm. As tool to promote information exchange and germplasm utilisation, CIRAD developed a database built on a standardised format. However, the database and its valuable information were not easily accessible to anyone. The development of a joint CIRAD-INRA (Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique) project to build a Tropical Plants Biological Resources Centr (CRB) of the French West Indies made it possible to develop a web portal and give open access to the database directly on the internet. This website makes it possible to get information on cultivated plants conserved by CIRAD and INRA in Guadeloupe Martinique: sugarcane, bananas, yam, perennial fruit crops, flowers and pineapple. Eventually, the portal will be trilingual: French, English and Spanish. The Tropical Plants Biological Resources Centre of the French West Indies portal is currently accessible though not all features have been implemented. Access to the portal is at http://collections.antilles.inra.fr/BRCPortal/initHome.do. (Texte intégral