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FAO/Bioversity Multi-Crop Passport Descriptors V.2.1

MCPD in Genesys

This web-ready and annotated version of MCPD 2.1 with additional examples and guidance uses slightly different formatting compared to the original. The original official document can be downloaded from the FAO/Bioversity MCPD v2.1 (December 2015).

This list of Multi-crop Passport Descriptors (MCPD V.2.1) is an update to MCPD V.2 which was released in 2012. The MCPD V.2 was a revision of the first FAO/IPGRI publication released in 2001, expanded to accommodate emerging needs, such as the broader use of GPS tools, or the implementation of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture’s Multilateral System for access and benefit-sharing.

The MCPD, developed jointly by Bioversity International (formerly IPGRI) and FAO, is a widely used international standard to facilitate germplasm passport information exchange. These descriptors are compatible with Bioversity’s crop descriptor lists, with the descriptors used by the FAO World Information and Early Warning System (WIEWS) on plant genetic resources (PGR), and with the Genesys global portal.

For each multi-crop passport descriptor, a brief explanation of content, coding scheme and suggested fieldname are provided.

For detailed guidance on how to implement this standard for your Genesys upload, see:

Common formatting rules​

  1. If a field allows multiple values, these values should be separated by a semicolon (;) without space (e.g. Accession name: Symphony;Emma;Songino).

  2. A field for which no value is available should be left empty (e.g. Elevation). If data are exchanged in ASCII format, a field with a missing numeric value should be left empty. If data are exchanged in a database format, missing numeric values should be represented by generic NULL values.

  3. Dates are recorded as YYYYMMDD. If the month or day are missing, this should be indicated with hyphens or ‘00’ [double zero]. If both (month and day) are missing, two double zeros are needed (e.g. 1975----, 19750000; 197506--, 19750600).

  4. Country names: Three letter ISO codes are used for countries. The ISO 3166-1: Code List and the Country or the Country or area numerical codes added or changed are available online at: https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49alpha.htm.

  5. For institutes, the codes from FAO WIEWS should be used. The current set of Institute Codes is available from the FAO WIEWS site (https://www.fao.org/wiews).

PUID Persistent unique identifier​

Any persistent, unique identifier assigned to the accession so it can be unambiguously referenced at the global level and the information associated with it harvested through automated means. Report one PUID for each accession.

The Secretariat of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (PGRFA) is facilitating the assignment of a persistent unique identifier (PUID), in the form of a DOI, to PGRFA at the accession level (https://www.planttreaty.org/doi).

Genebanks not applying a true PUID to their accessions should use, and request recipients to use, the concatenation of INSTCODE, ACCENUMB, and GENUS as a globally unique identifier similar in most respects to the PUID whenever they exchange information on accessions with third parties (e.g. NOR017:NGB17773:ALLIUM).

Genesys PUID requirement

In Genesys, the only accepted form for the PUID field is a DOI. Any other identifier forms are ignored.

INSTCODE Institute code​

FAO WIEWS code of the institute where the accession is maintained. The codes consist of the 3-letter ISO 3166 country code of the country where the institute is located plus a number (e.g. COL001). The current set of institute codes is available from https://www.fao.org/wiews. For those institutes not yet having an FAO Code, or for those with ‘obsolete’ codes, see ‘Common formatting rules (v)’.

ACCENUMB Accession number​

This is the unique identifier for accessions within a genebank, and is assigned when a sample is entered into the genebank collection (e.g. PI 113869).

COLLNUMB Collecting number​

Original identifier assigned by the collector(s) of the sample, normally composed of the name or initials of the collector(s) followed by a number (e.g. FM9909). This identifier is essential for identifying duplicates held in different collections.

COLLCODE Collecting institute code​

FAO WIEWS code of the institute collecting the sample. If the holding institute has collected the material, the collecting institute code (COLLCODE) should be the same as the holding institute code (INSTCODE). Follows INSTCODE standard. Multiple values are separated by a semicolon without space.

COLLNAME Collecting institute name​

Name of the institute collecting the sample. This descriptor should be used only if COLLCODE cannot be filled because the FAO WIEWS code for this institute is not available. Multiple values are separated by a semicolon without space.

COLLINSTADDRESS Collecting institute address​

Address of the institute collecting the sample. This descriptor should be used only if COLLCODE cannot be filled since the FAO WIEWS code for this institute is not available. Multiple values are separated by a semicolon without space.

COLLMISSID Collecting mission identifier​

Identifier of the collecting mission used by the Collecting Institute (COLLCODE or COLLNAME) (e.g. CIATFOR052, CN426).

GENUS Genus​

Genus name for taxon. Initial uppercase letter required.

SPECIES Species​

Specific epithet portion of the scientific name in lowercase letters. Only the following abbreviation is allowed: sp.

SPAUTHOR Species authority​

Provide the authority for the species name.

SUBTAXA Subtaxon​

Subtaxon can be used to store any additional taxonomic identifier. The following abbreviations are allowed: subsp. (for subspecies); convar. (for convariety); var. (for variety); f. (for form); Group (for ‘cultivar group’).

SUBTAUTHOR Subtaxon authority​

Provide the subtaxon authority at the most detailed taxonomic level.

CROPNAME Common crop name​

Common name of the crop. Example: malting barley, macadamia, maïs.

ACCENAME Accession name​

Either a registered or other designation given to the material received, other than the donor’s accession number (DONORNUMB) or collecting number (COLLNUMB). First letter uppercase. Multiple names are separated by a semicolon without space. Example: Accession name: Bogatyr;Symphony;Emma.

ACQDATE Acquisition date [YYYYMMDD]​

Date on which the accession entered the collection where YYYY is the year, MM is the month and DD is the day. Missing data (MM or DD) should be indicated with hyphens or ‘00’ [double zero].

ORIGCTY Country of origin​

3-letter ISO 3166-1 code of the country in which the sample was originally collected (e.g. landrace, crop wild relative, farmers’ variety), bred or selected (breeding lines, GMOs, segregating populations, hybrids, modern cultivars, etc.).

Note

Descriptors COLLSITE to ELEVATION COLLDATE below should be completed accordingly only if it was ‘collected’.

COLLSITE Location of collecting site​

Location information below the country level that describes where the accession was collected, preferable in English. This might include the distance in kilometres and direction from the nearest town, village or map grid reference point, (e.g. 7 km south of Curitiba in the state of Parana).

Geographical coordinates​

For latitude and longitude descriptors, two alternative formats are proposed, but the one reported by the collecting mission should be used.

Latitude and longitude in decimal degree format with a precision of four decimal places corresponds to approximately 10 m at the Equator and describes the point-radius representation of the location, along with Geodetic datum and Coordinate uncertainty in metres.

Note

The following two mutually exclusive formats can be used for latitude: DECLATITUDE or LATITUDE.

DECLATITUDE Latitude of collecting site (Decimal degrees format)​

Latitude expressed in decimal degrees. Positive values are North of the Equator; negative values are South of the Equator (e.g. -44.6975).

LATITUDE Latitude of collecting site (Degrees, Minutes, Seconds format)​

Degrees (2 digits) minutes (2 digits), and seconds (2 digits) followed by N (North) or S (South) (e.g. 103020S). Every missing digit (minutes or seconds) should be indicated with a hyphen. Leading zeros are required (e.g. 10----S; 011530N; 4531--S).

Note

The following two mutually exclusive formats can be used for longitude: DECLONGITUDE or LONGITUDE.

DECLONGITUDE Longitude of collecting site (Decimal degrees format)​

Longitude expressed in decimal degrees. Positive values are East of the Greenwich Meridian; negative values are West of the Greenwich Meridian (e.g. +120.9123).

LONGITUDE Longitude of collecting site (Degrees, Minutes, Seconds format)​

Degrees (3 digits), minutes (2 digits), and seconds (2 digits) followed by E (East) or W (West) (e.g. 0762510W). Every missing digit (minutes or seconds) should be indicated with a hyphen. Leading zeros are required (e.g. 076----W).

COORDUNCERT Coordinate uncertainty [m]​

Uncertainty associated with the coordinates in metres. Leave the value empty if the uncertainty is unknown.

COORDDATUM Coordinate datum​

The geodetic datum or spatial reference system upon which the coordinates given in decimal latitude and decimal longitude are based (e.g. WGS84, ETRS89, NAD83). The GPS uses the WGS84 datum.

GEOREFMETH Georeferencing method​

The georeferencing method used (GPS, determined from map, gazetteer, or estimated using software). Leave the value empty if georeferencing method is not known.

ELEVATION Elevation of collecting site [masl]​

Elevation of collecting site expressed in metres above sea level. Negative values are allowed.

COLLDATE Collecting date of sample [YYYYMMDD]​

Collecting date of the sample, where YYYY is the year, MM is the month and DD is the day. Missing data (MM or DD) should be indicated with hyphens or ‘00’ [double zero].

BREDCODE Breeding institute code​

FAO WIEWS code of the institute that has bred the material. If the holding institute has bred the material, the breeding institute code (BREDCODE) should be the same as the holding institute code (INSTCODE). Follows INSTCODE standard. Multiple values are separated by a semicolon without space.

BREDNAME Breeding institute name​

Name of the institute (or person) that bred the material. This descriptor should be used only if BREDCODE cannot be filled because the FAO WIEWS code for this institute is not available. Multiple names are separated by a semicolon without space.

SAMPSTAT Biological status of accession​

The coding scheme proposed can be used at 3 different levels of detail: either by using the general codes (in boldface) such as 100, 200, 300, 400, or by using the more specific codes such as 110, 120, etc.

  • 100 Wild
    • 110 Natural
    • 120 Semi-natural/wild
    • 130 Semi-natural/sown
  • 200 Weedy
  • 300 Traditional cultivar/landrace
  • 400 Breeding/research material
    • 410 Breeder’s line
      • 411 Synthetic population
      • 412 Hybrid
      • 413 Founder stock/base population
      • 414 Inbred line (parent of hybrid cultivar)
      • 415 Segregating population
      • 416 Clonal selection
    • 420 Genetic stock
      • 421 Mutant (e.g. induced/insertion mutant, tilling population)
      • 422 Cytogenetic stock (e.g. chromosome addition/substitution, aneuploid, amphiploid)
      • 423 Other genetic stock (e.g. mapping population)
  • 500 Advanced or improved cultivar (conventional breeding methods)
  • 600 GMO (by genetic engineering)
  • 999 Other (elaborate in REMARKS field)

ANCEST Ancestral data​

Information about either pedigree or other description of ancestral information (e.g. parent variety in case of mutant or selection). For example a pedigree Hanna/7*Atlas//Turk/8*Atlas or a description mutation found in Hanna, selection from Irene or cross involving amongst others Hanna and Irene.

COLLSRC Collecting/acquisition source​

The coding scheme proposed can be used at 2 different levels of detail: either by using the general codes (in boldface) such as 10, 20, 30, 40, etc., or by using the more specific codes, such as 11, 12, etc.

  • 10 Wild habitat
    • 11 Forest or woodland
    • 12 Shrubland
    • 13 Grassland
    • 14 Desert or tundra
    • 15 Aquatic habitat
  • 20 Farm or cultivated habitat
    • 21 Field
    • 22 Orchard
    • 23 Backyard, kitchen or home garden (urban, peri-urban or rural)
    • 24 Fallow land
    • 25 Pasture
    • 26 Farm store
    • 27 Threshing floor
    • 28 Park
  • 30 Market or shop
  • 40 Institute, Experimental station, Research organization, Genebank
  • 50 Seed company
  • 60 Weedy, disturbed or ruderal habitat
    • 61 Roadside
    • 62 Field margin
  • 99 Other (elaborate in REMARKS field)

DONORCODE Donor institute code​

FAO WIEWS code of the donor institute. Follows INSTCODE standard.

DONORNAME Donor institute name​

Name of the donor institute (or person). This descriptor should be used only if DONORCODE cannot be filled because the FAO WIEWS code for this institute is not available.

DONORNUMB Donor accession number​

Identifier assigned to an accession by the donor. Follows ACCENUMB standard.

OTHERNUMB Other identifiers associated with the accession​

Any other identifiers known to exist in other collections for this accession. Use the following format: INSTCODE:ACCENUMB;INSTCODE:identifier;…

INSTCODE and identifier are separated by a colon without space. Pairs of INSTCODE and identifier are separated by a semicolon without space. When the institute is not known, the identifier should be preceded by a colon.

DUPLSITE Location of safety duplicates​

FAO WIEWS code of the institute(s) where a safety duplicate of the accession is maintained. Multiple values are separated by a semicolon without space. Follows INSTCODE standard.

DUPLINSTNAME Institute maintaining safety duplicates​

Name of the institute where a safety duplicate of the accession is maintained. Multiple values are separated by a semicolon without space.

STORAGE Type of germplasm storage​

If germplasm is maintained under different types of storage, multiple choices are allowed, separated by a semicolon (e.g. 20;30). (Refer to FAO/IPGRI Genebank Standards 1994 for details on storage type.)

  • 10 Seed collection
    • 11 Short term seed collection
    • 12 Medium term seed collection
    • 13 Long term seed collection
  • 20 Field collection
  • 30 In vitro collection
  • 40 Cryopreserved collection
  • 50 DNA collection
  • 99 Other (elaborate in REMARKS field)

MLSSTAT MLS status of the accession​

The status of an accession with regards to the Multilateral System (MLS) of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Leave the value empty if the status is not known.

  • 0 No (not included)
  • 1 Yes (included)
  • 99 Other (elaborate in REMARKS field, e.g. MLSSTAT:under development)

REMARKS Remarks​

The remarks field is used to add notes or to elaborate on descriptors with value 99 or 999 (= Other). Prefix remarks with the field name they refer to and a colon (:) without space (e.g. COLLSRC:riverside). Distinct remarks referring to different fields are separated by semicolons without space.

Genesys extensions to MCPD​

Genesys uses several additional descriptors to provide more information about the accessions and to manage their availability.

ACCEURL Accession URL​

ECPGR originally extended the MCPD list with the Accession URL field ACCEURL. The field should contain a direct link to the provider’s online portal where additional data about the accession may be available.

Example: Passport data of IITA’s TDr-3616 yam accession

ACCEURL: http://my.iita.org/accession2/accession/TDr-3616

AVAILABLE Accession availability​

Genesys allows end-users to request material from holding institutes. Accession records marked as not available in Genesys will be excluded from user’s requests.

Allowed values for AVAILABLE field:

  • 0: Unavailable for distribution.
  • 1: Available for distribution.
  • null (blank): Unspecified (not necessarily unavailable).

In addition to setting the availability flag, genebanks must opt in to allow end-users to request material through Genesys.

HISTORIC Historic records​

Accessions are on occasion removed from a collection. This is especially true for pre-bred material and genetic stocks that are maintained by the genebank for a limited period of time. The records about such material must not be deleted from databases, as they can potentially be tracked to other collections where the material is still actively maintained.

The holding genebank may want to mark such records by setting the value of the HISTORIC field.

Allowed values for HISTORIC field:

  • 1 or true: The record represents an accession no longer actively maintained by the genebank.
  • 0, false, or null (blank): The record represents an actively managed accession.
info

Historic accessions cannot be requested through Genesys.

CURATION Curation type​

See the Guidance Note for CGIAR Genebanks on Improving Accession Management.

Allowed values for CURATION field:

  • FULL: Accessions that are conserved for current and future use in long-term and active collections, using the full set of storage, monitoring, testing and management standards to ensure that each accession has enough healthy, viable, true-to-type, backed-up material for safe long-term conservation and effective distribution. Having the vast majority of germplasm fully curated should be the norm for any good genebank.
  • PARTIAL: Accessions that are conserved using only a subset of the actions applied to fully curated accessions. Which actions are or are not applied depends on the purpose of conservation.
  • ARCHIVED: Accession is no longer actively maintained, but physically still exists in the genebank.
  • HISTORICAL: This is a historic record of an accession that no longer physically exists in the collection.

The CURATION field takes precedence over HISTORIC. For example if you mark an accession as HISTORIC = true, but indicate that the accession CURATION = FULL, then the accession will be marked as active (not historical) because you indicated that it is fully curated.

UUID Universally unique identifier​

A UUID is a stable, globally unique identifier for an accession record. Genesys uses it as the primary internal identifier if a DOI is not available.

Genesys automatically generates a UUID for every record, so you likely don't need to fill this field in your upload files. If your institute already assigns UUIDs and you would like us to preserve those identifiers, you can include them here.

UUID vs PUID

The UUID field is different from the PUID field. Genesys only accepts DOIs in the PUID field. Other identifiers, such as UUIDs or LSIDs, are ignored if they are placed there. If you have a UUID for your record, please use the UUID extension instead.