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Audiotex system for monitoring and control of pests in field crops 1
Author(s) -
MURALI N. S.
Publication year - 1993
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.1365-2338.1993.tb00553.x
Subject(s) - control (management) , usability , field (mathematics) , relational database management system , service (business) , database , sql , computer science , relational database , agricultural science , business , operating system , environmental science , mathematics , marketing , artificial intelligence , pure mathematics
A telephone‐based interactive voice response system (audiotex) integrated to a relational database has been implemented in Denmark for monitoring and control of pests in spring barley, winter barley, winter wheat, field pea and sugar beet. The system has been implemented using Powerline II Voice Response System and Inforniix‐SQL RDBMS on a Commodore 486–25C PC under MS‐DOS 5.0. The system is programmed in Microsoft C Version 6.0 with Informix ESQL/C Version 2.10 and Powerline II C Commando Version 1.2 programming interfaces. The database contains information pertaining to the farmer, the agronomic conditions of the field, individual field observations, recommendation model constants and the weather data. The user enters the field observations using a touch‐tone telephone and prerecorded messages are used to guide the user during the data entry and for advising control measures. From the beginning of June to the end of July 1992, 129 farmers with 486 fields were offered the audiotex service. Usability analysis of the system showed that the system was simple to use and provided timely advice on control measures. Farmers indicated that they would continue to use the audiotex. Compared to an earlier recommendation service, which required 24–36 h for control recommendations to reach the farmers through postal services, the audiotex provides control recommendations immediately after data entry on the telephone.