Classification of Level of Rice Pest Incidence Based on Weather Information

Aims: To classify the rice pest data based on the weather attributes using a machine learning approach, a decision tree classifier, and to validate the performance results with other existing techniques through comparison. Design: Rice pest classification using C5.0 algorithm Methodology: We collected rice pest data from the crop fields of various regions in the state of Maharashtra of India. The dataset contains the name of the region (Taluk), period (week), pest data, temperature, rainfall, and relative humidity. The data is collected from 39 taluks within four districts in different weeks of the year of 2013-2014. The weather information plays a vital role in this rice pest data analysis, because based on the weather, pest infestation varies in all the regions. The pests considered in this research are Yellow Stem borer, Gall midge, Leaf folder, and Planthopper. The collected dataset is given as input to the classifier, where 75% of data from the dataset is used for training, and 25% of data are used for testing the classifier. Results: The proposed C5.0 algorithm performed better in the classification of rice pest dataset based on weather attributes. The C5.0 algorithm achieved 88.99% accuracy, 78.81% sensitivity, and 89.11% specificity, which are higher in performance when compared with other techniques. Compared with the other different methods, the C5.0 algorithm achieved 1.3 to 8.5% improved accuracy, 2.4 to 9% improved sensitivity, and 0.8 to 7.8% improved specificity. Conclusion: Early detection of pest and pest based diseases is an essential process to avoid major crop losses. The proposed classification model is designed to classify the level of pest infestations based on weather attributes, as level of infestations caused by the rice pest varies based on weather conditions. The C5.0 algorithm classified the rice pest data based on the weather attributes in the dataset.