An information acquisition and management system for maize breeding

In order to make researchers in maize breeding gather information in field electronically, store and analyze experimental data more scientifically and efficiently, an information acquisition and management system is designed and implemented for maize breeding in this paper. The entire system includes two parts, which are desktop system and handheld system. Desktop system consists of data management module, data analysis module and databases, and is developed with Visual C++ 6.0. Data management module provides functions to add, query, delete and modify data. MySQL databases are used to achieve the structural storage of maize traits that need to be observed or measured in breeding process. Handheld system runs on the handheld terminal such as a wearable PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), and is used for recording, storing and classifying the breeding information according to growth stages in field in a fast and efficient paperless way. It is developed with Visual Studio 2008 C# language on WinCE environment. Data in handheld terminals can be automatically synchronized with desktop database via USB connection and Microsoft ActiveSync software. This information acquisition and management system has been put into use for over one year, and can run smoothly and stably with required convenience. In-field data can be input and stored easily via a handheld terminal at anytime and anywhere, further processed and analyzed efficiently through a desktop system, satisfying breeders with unified breeding information collection and management.