Recommendation for fertilizer application for soils via qualitative reasoning

In Brazil, liming and fertilization are essential practices in agriculture due to the soils being acidic and poor in nutrients. Distinct decision tabl es that serve as support for recommendation of fertilizer application are u sed, but one of their features is that they are based on a strictly quantit ative analysis of input variables. This sometimes causes dificulties in the ir use when calculating the output (recommended fertilizer application). Th is work presents a model for the use and interpretation of decision tables for fertilizer application. It is based on a qualitative characterization f or the rules and input variables used. The results have shown that this app roach gives feasible results which more accurately reflect human thinking a bout the decision table. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved .