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Information System for Agriculture and Food Research

Information platform of the Federal and State Governments

Development of an image-based diagnostic tool for pest organisms (plant doctor) and Revision of pest organism Portraits in the web Portal www.oekolandbau.de (Pflanzendoktor)

Project


Project code: 2815OE031, JKI-SF-08-1212
Contract period: 01.12.2015 - 31.12.2019
Budget: 161,493 Euro
Purpose of research: Public relations

This project develops a user-friendly, scientifically founded and exhaustive diagnostic tool for agriculturally relevant pest organisms (plant doctor) in the web portal www.oekolandbau.de. The plant doctor will be linked with the already available information on prevention and regulation options in organic farming. These information are supplemented with the most recent scientific insights and recent changes in the availability of control measures, such as the increased market availability of beneficial organisms. As well as plant diseases and plant pests, the plant doctor can be used for identifying storage pests based on images. By providing conclusive images and a user-friendly structure, the plant-doctor will be expanded to an online diagnostic tool.

The project develops a user-friendly, online diagnostic aid to identify pests and diseases. At the time of annual reporting, the general concept, technical realisation and web-optimization of the tool was finalised. The realisation of the content of the diagnostic aid is structured into six thematic blocks. The second block on pests and diseases in field crops was published in February 2018 under pflanzenschutz.oekolandbau.de. The publication of the third thematic block on weeds is underway.

For organic farmers, especially on newly converted or diverse farms, assessing information concerning pest and disease identification and organic regulation options requires large efforts. Available tools for pest- and disease diagnosis are linked to advertisements for pesticides or cover only a limited crop range. The project therefore developed a user-friendly diagnostic aid for relevant pest organisms in organic farming, and composed organic regulation options based on current research results and available plant protection products. It is published at https://pflanzenschutz.oekolandbau.de for the themes storage protection, weed regulation, brad-acre crops, fruit and vine crops, hops, and vegetables and fresh herbs.
The diagnostic aid consists of a list with all pest images and a filter structure, which enables a flexible combination of selected categories and does not require knowledge of microscopic features. The selection can be narrowed by characteristics of the insect body, its larva, the infested crop or product (for storage protection), site conditions (for weeds), infested plant part and damage symptoms. Photographs were taken of insects bred at the JKI and catches from farmers’ fields, and images of other authors were added. Recent scientific results and market availability of regulation options in organic farming were reviewed and included. Film portraits of eight insect pests and their natural enemies as well as the option to further develop the online-tool into a mobile app that also works offline, enhance the attractiveness of the tool.

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