Wheat disease control advisory, a decision support system for management of foliar diseases of wheat in israel

Wheat disease control advisory (WDCA), a computerized decision support system for managing septoria tritici blotch, leaf rust, and yellow rust, was developed and field tested under the semi-arid conditions of Israel. The system operates on a persona] computer and thus can be managed independently at any time by the user. During the decision making procedure, the system considers economic, agronomic, phytopathological and both recorded and forecast weather. It analyzes the effects of these factors on the benefits of disease control and provides a recommendation for action to suppress these diseases efficiently. WDCA was tested over 4 years in 81 field experiments by its developers and by commercial growers. In plots managed according to WDCA, a significant increase of 0.78 t/ha in yield, or US $ 92.70 per ha in net profit, was obtained relative to the common management policy. The knowledge base used for constructing WDCA, its decision making process, the technology transfer techniques, the validation procedures and their results are presented and discussed. Key words: Puccinia recondita, P. striiformis, Mycosphaerella graminicola, yield loss.