Decision Support System for IPM in Potato/Tomato

Abstract

A Decision Support System (DSS) for the management of potato and tomato late blight is being developed. A draft version is being evaluated by growers in New York. The DSS enables growers to access diverse tools in real time to improve their abilities to manage late blight with decreased fungicide. The tools are: i)ready access to site-specific observed weather; ii) ready access to farm-specific weather forecasts; iii) ready access to late blight disease forecasts; iv) models that enable growers to predict the effects of the various factors that influence late blight development. The goals of this project were to improve the components of the DSS and to make the DSS more user-friendly. The improvements accomplished during the funding period were focused on the user interface of the DSS. The front page was modified to clarify the effects of fungicide, and a risk alert was added. The risk-alert is designed to inform a user of the relative risk posed by late blight in proximity to the user. The algorithms for the risk-alert were calculated and the programming to include this in the DSS was completed. Evaluations of the risk-alert will occur in the future. The availability of the risk alert and the availability of the DSS are designed to eliminate the use of unnecessary (insurance) fungicide applications