KNOWLEDGE-BASED SYSTEMS FOR FRUIT AND VEGETABLE PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT

The information needs of fruit and vegetable cropping systems and the availability of expert system technology have helped generate a variet y of knowledge-based decision support systems for horticultural produc tion management. The 25 knowledge-based systems (KBS) reviewed here we re developed to perform a variety of functions from very specific hort icultural and pest management tasks to overall cropping system managem ent. Most of the reports reviewed contain extensive discussions on the rationale or need for developing the system, software requirements in cluding how knowledge is represented in the system, and to a lesser de gree reports on system validation. Although each reviewed KBS was crea ted to help horticulturists make better management decisions, few of t he authors reported that their systems were being used. Barriers to us ability may be result from inappropriate choice of KBS tasks, a need f or greater inclusion of users in advance of construction of the system , inappropriate structure of and access to the knowledge base, and ins ufficient attention to development of public/private partnerships for domain selection, software support, and maintenance.