Multipurpose tree and shrub database: an information and decision support system

The Multipurpose Tree and Shrub Database (MPTS) held by the International Council for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF), is a user-friendly computing tool developed for the retrieval of detailed information on multipurpose tree and shrub species. The database comes with software that allows the user to browse species or create parameters for the selection of species based on any number of physical and social variables. The MPTS User' Manual describes it as, "a computer-based information and decision-support system founded on an inventory of existing information about multipurpose tree and shrub species in the tropics and sub-tropics. In the context of the database, multipurpose trees and shrubs are those that are deliberately grown or kept in integrated land-use systems and are often managed for more than one output. They are expected to make a significant economic or ecological impact, or both. This definition also includes forest plantation species that are grown primarily for lumber, provided that they are used in integrated land-use systems. The main objective of the database is to provide detailed information on a large number of species to field workers and researchers who are engaged in activities involving woody perennials suitable for agroforestry systems and technologies. It is designed to help them make rational decisions regarding the choice of candidate species for specific sites and defined purposes."

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