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An evaluation of the crop‐physiological and epidemiological information in EPIPRE
Author(s) -
DRENTH H.,
HOEK J.,
DAAMEN R. A.,
ROSSING W. A. H.,
STOL W.,
WIJNANDS F. G.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
eppo bulletin
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.327
H-Index - 36
eISSN - 1365-2338
pISSN - 0250-8052
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2338.1989.tb00415.x
Subject(s) - pest analysis , integrated pest management , mycosphaerella graminicola , crop , pest control , pesticide , pesticide application , yield (engineering) , agricultural engineering , toxicology , biology , agronomy , septoria , engineering , horticulture , materials science , metallurgy
EPIPRE is an integrated pest and disease management system for wheat based on on‐line calculations of costs and benefits of pesticide treatments. It is field‐specific and utilizes disease and pest incidences which are collected by the participating farmers. Incidences are transformed to severities through pest‐specific relations with which a prediction of the epidemic is made according to an exponential development model. Integration of the epidemic over time, with multiplication by a pest‐specific damage factor, delivers the expected damage till the end of the season, expressed as a fraction of the expected yield. Chemical control is only recommended when benefit of control exceeds total costs, including those for pesticide(s), labour, machinery and wheel‐track damage. The current model needs improvement especially for the forecast of septoria blotch diseases, the field‐specific quantification of the relative growth rates used and the damage relations of Puccinia striiformis and Mycosphaerella graminicola/Leptosphaeria nodorum. Also the cost‐benefit analysis of the model can be improved, and it therefore, in the near future, needs contributions from research topics such as phytopathology, crop physiology, farm economics and information management. Using the model during the last 10 years has led to a reduced input of pesticides, which in its turn results in a lowering of production costs and a marked decrease in environmental pollution. Therefore future efforts to improve the model seem to be worthwhile.