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 As ian countries. It has 72 rules for recommending insecticides and an ex ternal program written in BASIC for selecting sprayers. Insecticides a re recommended based on the type of insect, symptoms, economic thresho ld, cost, and the effectiveness of chemical. An attempt was made to fa ce this system with a real problem of rice leaf folder. Field experime nts have been performed to evaluate the program's recommendations for controlling the rice leaf folder. The program should be expanded for o ther major rice insects before it is used by farmers. An external prog ram for sprayer selection has been developed. Sprayer selection is bas ed on droplet size, deposition efficiency, capacity, and operating cos t. Laboratory and field experiments using manually carried sprayers we re to provide data required by the user.