A Conceptual Model of Mobile Expert System for Integrated Pest and Disease Control: The Case of MyCorn

Abstract

The study of plant disease detection systems development has become very popular especially after the introduction of precision agriculture and the widespread use of mobile computing in almost all area including agriculture. While there exist an abundance of frameworks or models, however, given the unique nature of pest and disease management influenced by the different types of cultivation setting such as location, history, soil and the threat’s, research in this area is still needed. In addition, crop disease and pest detection is a complex task requiring accumulated knowledge and expertise as well as collecting detailed information very often manually. Therefore, on the basis of generic expert system model, this research aims to develop a conceptual model of mobile expert system for pest and disease management. Drawing from the case study of MyCorn development project, this study specifically offers a conceptual model of mobile application which offers a collaborative platform for integrated corn crop disease and pest diagnosis, treatment, and protection. The findings also offer useful practical insights for those who are seeking to build similar expert system for agriculture crops other than corn.