Development of Expert System to Diagnose Rice Diseases in Meghalaya State
Abstract - We aim to develop an expert system (ES) to the
farmers in Meghalaya state for managing rice diseases.
The rice diseases prevailing in this area were identified
and confirmed after discussion with the domain experts
and interacting with the farmers through structured
interview schedule. The diagnosed rice diseases were Blast
(Pyricularia grisea), Brown Spot (Drechslera oryzae),
Sheath Rot (Sarocladium oryzae), Sheath Blight
(Rhizoctonia solani) and False Smut (Ustilaginoidea
virens). The system is designed and developed using
Hypertext pre-processor (PHP) as front-end software and
MySQL as back-end software. The pictures and remedial
measures of the diseases were stored in the database and
can be retrieved whenever necessary. The challenge is to
make the farmers to listen the rice ES and to get the advice
related to the rice diseases. The constraint here is to
develop the ES in local languages so that farmers can
operate the ES by themselves and get expert advice from
the system. The relevant content and recommendations
were validated with the help of concerned experts from
College of Post Graduate Studies, Central Agricultural
University and also from Indian Council of Agricultural
Research - Research Complex for North Eastern Hill
Region, Umiam, Meghalaya. This rice ES has created
awareness about rice diseases and their management
among farmers in Meghalaya that shall increase the yield
by reducing the disease incidence