A KNOWLEDGE-BASED SYSTEM FOR INSECTICIDE MANAGEMENT FOR RICE CROPS

A knowledge-based system was developed using an expert system shell to help farmers in insecticide management for rice crops for tropical Asian countries. It has 72 rules for recommending insecticides and an external program written in BASIC for selecting sprayers. Insecticides are recommended based on the type of insect, symptoms, economic threshold, cost, and the effectiveness of chemical. An attempt was made to face this system with a real problem of rice leaf folder. Field experiments have been performed to evaluate the program's recommendations for controlling the rice leaf folder. The program should be expanded for other major rice insects before it is used by farmers. An external program for sprayer selection has been developed. Sprayer selection is based on droplet size, deposition efficiency, capacity, and operating cost. Laboratory and field experiments using manually carried sprayers were to provide data required by the user.