Electronic, Multi-Access Resource for Identification of Plant Pests

 

Diagnosing plant problems can be one of the most challenging aspects of an extension practitioner’s job. An accurate diagnosis leads to the selection of management practices tailored to a specific insect or disease whereas a wrong diagnosis often results in poor control, pesticide misapplication and certainly some embarrassing encounters with clientele.

   

 

The art of diagnostics requires familiarity with specific plant production practices and the unique set of problems and pests associated with them. Many of us are comfortable diagnosing problems on certain crops but may shy away from diagnosing others. Fortunately Colorado State University has labs in Jefferson and Mesa counties as well in the Department of Bioagricultural Sciences and Pest Management that support plant diagnostics. Yet there is still need for basic field and office diagnostic support.

 

As ‘proof-of –concept’, the department has developed an electronic, multi-access key for identification of insects, diseases and abiotic problems of wheat. A version of the key can be viewed at http://highplainsipm.org/Crops/SmallGrainsIndex.html. One advantage of an electronic key is that multiple images depicting different life stages of an insect or plant, or variations in plant symptoms can be included. This reduces the problem of trying to match specimen symptoms with a single idealized image. Furthermore, electronic keys can be linked to websites that provide additional information on diagnostics and management. For example, we have linked specific problems outlined in the key to management fact sheets hosted on the High Plains Integrated Pest Management website http://www.highplainsipm.org/. In traditional dichotomous keys, a user must answer questions in a specific order. Invariably, this leads to an unanswerable question based on the sample at hand. In contrast, our key allows for selection of traits and symptoms that are only recognizable at the time of viewing.

 

In the future we hope to develop an electronic diagnostic key for Bulletin 506A ‘Insects and Diseases of Woody Plants of the Central Rockies’. For further information on this topic contact Ned Tisserat, Department of Bioagricultural Sciences and Pest Management, at (970) 491-5261 or Ned.Tisserat@colostate.edu.

 

College of Agricultural Sciences 121 Shepardson, (Campus Delivery 1101) Colorado State University Fort Collins, CO 80523-1101 Phone: 970-491-6274, Fax: 970-491-4895 Our url: www.agsci.colostate.edu Comments: CAS_webmaster@mail.colostate.edu Apply to CSU | Disclaimer | Equal Opportunity | Privacy Updated May 2, 2008