1. Introduction Initiated in September 2009, the Integrated Breeding Platform (IBP) serves as a sustainable, web-based, platform for information and analytical tools to design and carry out integrated breeding projects and related services. IBP has the capacity to boost crop productivity and resilience for smallholders in drought-prone environments by exploiting the economies of scale afforded by collective access to cutting-edge breeding technologies and informatics hitherto unavailable to breeders in developing-countries. It also offers facilities to access these tools and services. Cassava is an important staple crop and food for more than 800 million people in the tropics and sub tropics (FA0 1999). Information on genetic resources, breeding, characterization, and evaluation, is a major constraint in Cassava Breeding research due to the poor integration of it data. Thereby, necessitating the need for the Implementation of IBP in Research centres. Data is being collected on evaluation sheets and field notebooks which might be altered or misplaced pointing to the fact that evaluated data are not protected. In addition, it takes a longer time for the collected data to be entered into the computer, cleaned and prepared for analysis giving room for error during data entering if proper care is not taken by the curator. The Platform ultimately aims to achieve and facilitate unhindered sharing of information, which means overcoming the traditional reluctance of researchers to share data. This is being addressed by ongoing negotiation and confidence-building measures, and an evolving management regime that will give distinct privileges to those users willing to share their data. Acknowledgments We thank National Root Crops Research Institute, Umudike, Nigeria for their support. Funding for this project was provided by the Generation Challenge Programme. Conclusions Alex Ogbonna 1, Emmanuel Okogbenin 1 *, Adeyemi Olojede 1, Olalekan Akinbo 1, Ezenwanyi Uba 1, Arliet Portugal 2, Graham McLaren 2 and Chiedozie Egesi 1 1 National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI), Umudike, Nigeria; 2 Generation Challenge Programme, Mexico Corresponding author email address: eokogbenin@yahoo.com Reference FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations ), (1999). Production yearbook.Fox, P.N.,Production Lopez, C., Skovmand, B., Sanchez, H., Herrera, R., White, J.W., Duveiller, E. and van Ginkel, M. 1996. International Wheat Information System (IWIS), Version 1. Mexico, D.F.: CIMMYT. On Compact Disk. Fox, P.N. and Skovmand, B. 1996. The International Crop Information System (ICIS) - Connects Genebank to Breeder to Farmer’s Field. In Plant Adaptation and Crop Improvement (eds M. Cooper and G.L. Hammer), CAB International. ICIS. 1998a. SFSD, the Sustainable Farming Systems Database. Available at www.cgiar.org/icis/SFSD.htm (posted 24 Dec.,www.cgiar.org/icis/SFSD.htm 1998; verified 16 May, 1999). Figure 1. A launched ICASS Integrated Breeding Workbench homepage, displaying it features. Implementation of Integrated Breeding Platform (IBP) in cassava breeding at NRCRI, Nigeria Objectives To develop a data management strategy for Cassava Challenge Initiative projects that will aid data accessing, sharing and retrieval at NRCRI, Umudike, Nigeria. Objectives To develop a data management strategy for Cassava Challenge Initiative projects that will aid data accessing, sharing and retrieval at NRCRI, Umudike, Nigeria. Implementation of IBP for Year 2011/2012 Replicated Yield Trial. A total of 19 pre-selected genotypes from clonal evaluation stage in the breeding scheme in Nigeria were evaluated at western farm of NRCRI, Umudike, Nigeria. The genotypes (GCO 004-3, GCO 00-11, GCO 009-18, ……, GCO 002-4) were properly curated in the IB Workbench with the following GIDs: -298, -295, -373, …., -268 respectively. The use of the newly developed cassava traits table was fully implemented for this trial. Figure 4. The creation of germplasm list for year 2011/2012 replicated yield trial (RYT) in order to inforce unique identification and track pedigree in the Genealogy Management System (GMS). Figure 5. The created list for replicated yield trial for year 2011/2012. Figure 7. Data recording at western farm of NRCRI,Umudike,Nigeria. Figure 6. The generated trial fieldbook for year 2011/2012 RYT. Implementation of IBP for cassava breeding at NRCRI, Nigeria has given hope to data accessing, finding, sharing, extracting, preparing and managing which brings about intelligent data integration and utilization. Given that it has a genealogy management component to capture and process historical genealogies, to maintain evolving pedigrees, and to provide the basis for unique identification and internationally accepted nomenclature conventions for each crop. It also has a data management component for genetic, phenotypic, and environmental data generated by evaluation and testing. In addition, it has applications for producing field books and managing sets of breeding material and for diagnostics such as coefficients of parentage and genetic profiles for planning crosses and tools to add new breeding methods, new data fields, and new traits. IBP has given Breeding scheme a new look, ending the era of having trial information on field books and on the shelf of Scientist. However, IBP will give a global access to cassava breeding information sharing as well as for other crops. Figure 9. Part of the newly developed cassava traits table. Figure 8. The recorded data being saved in the fieldbook database. IBP Figure 3. Illustration of steps involved in implementation of IBP for Cassava Breeding database management at NRCRI, Nigeria. PYT: Replicated Yield Trial HB: Making parental list SN: Setting up F1 Nursery CE: Advancing selected clones AYT, UYT and On-Farm Trial: RYT Generating Fieldbooks Data Recording Scored Data saved in Database IBP Implementation and Cassava Improvement Strategies Abstract The Integrated Breeding Platform (IBP) is envisioned as a sustainable, web- based, one-stop shop for information, analytical tools and related services to design and carry out integrated breeding projects. The IBP aims to leverage advanced information and communication technologies to enable breeding programmes in the public and private sectors to accelerate variety development for developing countries using molecular marker technologies for various breeding purposes. The platform will also deliver support services to guide and train developing-country breeders in accessing and using marker technologies. International germplasm exchange was the engine of the Green Revolution. In the past, much of the important information generated from this exchange was only accessible locally, in field books or researchers’ files. We show at NRCRI the management of nursery and trial data in the database and application of the Trait Dictionary for standard measurement of the traits. NRCRI is now using IB Fieldbook to generate field book of 2012 Replicated Yield Trial. Fieldbook generated for this trial is moved to Samsung Galaxy tablet for data collection. We observed that the Galaxy tablet is convenient to use because data file can easily be moved from laptop to tablet, with the tablet battery staying for ten hours when fully charged, gives a reasonable time for data collection in the field at a time and has no reflection of the sun while being used in the field for data recording. 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 and as a result, the potential impact upon agriculture has not yet been realized. Now, the free exchange of information, through IBP, should provide the foundation for a second revolution that adds value to cassava germplasm by seamlessly uniting its conservation, evaluation, utilization, and exchange. Fig. 2. Cassava breeding scheme at IITA used mainly in African national breeding programmes. Source: IITA Cassava Breeding Unit Cassava Improvement Strategies Cassava Breeding scheme involves the development of Hybridization Block also known as Crossing Block in generated seeds will be planted in Seedling Nursery (SN) and selected clones will be established in Clonal Evaluation (CE) and further advance to Preliminary Yield Trial (PYT) then Advance Yield Trial (AYT) with respect to yield, disease resistance and food quality traits. The clones with the desired yield, disease resistance and food quality traits is advanced to Uniform Yield Trial (UYT) for adaptation in multilocations and then two to five elites clones are nominated for on-farm trial, multiplication and release as seen in Figure 2.