A weather-based decision support system for managing oilseed rape pests.

Abstract

The decision support system proPlant expert is an unbiased and independent system which was developed to help farmers to minimize the input of pesticides, while improving on the economic benefits obtained from highinput systems using routine sprays. The system can be used both on the internet (www.proPlantexpert.com) and as CD-ROM and Handheld Version proPlant expert was first developed for managing cereal diseases and later extended to cover growth regulators in cereals, diseases in sugar beet, potato late blight and pests in oilseed rape. Current weather data with a three-day-prognosis, which are provided by official meteorological services in Europe, build up the base for the proPlant analysis. Farmers and consultants receive no general information but plot specific consultation and decisions which are adapted to the special situation on the field. The decision support system for oilseed rape pests covers the cabbage stem flea beetle (Psylliodes chrysocephala), pollen beetle (Meligethes aeneus), rape stem weevil (Ceutorhynchus napi), cabbage stem weevil (Ceutorhynchus pallidactylus), cabbage seed weevil (Ceutorhynchus assimilis) and brassica pod midge (Dasineura brassicae). It is based on 8 years of field observa tions on the influence of the weather on the population dynamics of these pests in different regions of Germany.