Improvements to the International Life Sciences Institute Crop Composition Database

In May 2003, the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) released Version 1.0 of the Crop Composition Database (http://www.cropcomposition.org), a comprehensive public database that provides information on the natural variability in composition of conventionally bred crops. Currently, the database contains more than 115,000 data points representing 132 compositional components in corn, soybean and cotton. In 2009 the database logged more than 30,000 site visits from 122 countries around the world. ILSI has made a number of improvements to the original database and recently developed Version 4.0, which will be released for public access in 2010. Version 4.0 presents an intuitive graphical-user interface (GUI), significantly increased performance, added security, and additional features such as unit conversion and multiple output options. Another notable improvement in Version 4.0 is the Summary of Search Results tool, which allows users to immediately view data of interest and guides the preparation of output reports. This paper summarizes some of the enhanced features and usage of the database, which continues to be a valuable tool for characterizing the composition of conventional crops.