Using BETYdb (trait data, experimental metadata)

About BETYdb

BETYdb is used to manage and distribute agricultural and ecological data. It contains phenotype and agronomic data including plot locations and other geolocations of interest (e.g. fields, rows, plants).

Requesting access

To request access to BETYdb, register on the BETYdb web site. You will be notified once you have been granted access.

Data organization

The primary BETYdb Data Access Guide is largely relevant here, noting the following usages:

• Genotypes are stored in the cultivars table

• Plots are stored in the sites table. Plots are nested hierarchically based on geolocation.

Using the Advanced Search box

Most tables in BETYdb have search boxes. We describe below how to use the Advanced Search box to query data from these tables and download the results as a CSV file.

The Advanced Search box is the easiest way to download summary datasets designed to have enough information (location, time, species, citations) to be useful for a wide range of use cases.

(For more information about querying data from specific tables, see the BETYdb Data Access Guide.)

Using the Search Box

On the Welcome page of BETYdb there is a search option for trait and yield data (Figure 1). This tool allows users to search the entire collection of trait and yield data for specific sites, citations, species, and traits.

Figure 1: BETYdb Advanced Search Box

The results page provides a map interface and the option to download a file containing search results. The downloaded file is in CSV format. This file provides meta-data and provenance information, including the SQL query used to extract the data, the date and time the query was made, the citation source of each result row, and a citation for BETYdb itself.

Instructions

Using the search box to search trait and yield data is very simple: Type the site (city or site name), species (scientific or common name), cultivar, citation (author and/or year), or trait (variable name or description) into the search box and the results will show contents of BETYdb that match the search. The number of records per page can be changed to accord with the viewer's preference and the search results can be downloaded in the Excel-compatible CSV format.

The search map may be used in conjunction with search terms to restrict search results to a particular geographical area—or even a specific site—by clicking on a map. Clicking on a particular site will restrict results to that site. Clicking in the vicinity of a group of sites but not on a particular site will restrict the search to the region around the point clicked. Alternatively, if a search using search terms is done without clicking on the map, all sites associated with the returned results are highlighted on the map. Then, to zero in on results for a particular geographic area, click on or near highlighted locations on the map.

See also

• BETYdb Data Access Guide

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