Weed Control Advisor
Weed Control Advisor is an Expert System software development project, and is designed to help Texas rice producers with their weed control decisions throughout the year. Weed Control Advisor includes twenty-three of the most important weeds in Texas rice production and considers twelve herbicide varieties and some of their combined use. |
In order to give any recommendation to the rice producer/user, Weed Control Advisor demands some input and the most important of them is the name of the problem weeds and their sizes. Besides this information, Weed Control Advisor is able to work with the pre-set default values of water management method, rice production stage, previous herbicide use and several environmental conditions if the user chooses not to modify them. The program user can save any data he/she has entered in a special file called "Field Database". This file can be retrieved and/or modified during another session if weed and/or field conditions change and a new recommendation is required. |
The logic behind any recommendation relies on the effectiveness of individual herbicides on different weeds at different sizes. An effectiveness table for each herbicide, which includes contact and residual effect values for each weed at different sizes and rates for different soil texture, is stored in a database within the program. The same database also stores application information, warnings, application rates and working mechanism for each herbicide as well as the reasoning when a particular herbicide is not recommended. |
When problem weeds and other field information is provided by the rice producer/user, Weed Control Advisor scans every herbicide effectiveness table to find the possible effective herbicides to recommend the user. Once the herbicides are selected, the next step is to check previous herbicide use to avoid herbicide usage over the legal limit. |
If any herbicide is still recommendable, the last step includes scanning the recommendation rules per selected herbicide. The rules vary for each herbicide, and are generally related with rice stage, water management method, soil condition, growing conditions, etc. The following table summarizes the unfavorable field conditions when some herbicides are not recommendable or when some warnings are associated with the recommendation. |
Data Type | Project Default | Unfavorable Condition |
Rice Production Stage | Land has been prepared | There is water on the field |
Rice Growth Stage | Pre-plant | Varies for different herbicides |
Water Management Method | Water seeded with dry seed | Combined with the other field conditions varies for different herbicides |
Soil Condition | Well prepared | Soil is cloddy |
Soil Moisture | Saturated | Varies for different herbicides |
Is excessive plant residue present? | Not present | Present |
Growing Conditions | Good | Average or Poor |
Is Rice stressed? | No | Yes |
Rain expected in 3 hours? | No | Yes |
Flood or flush within a week? | No | Yes |
Insecticide applied? | No | Yes |
Propanil application | Not applied | Applied less than 6 days ago |
Time to incorporate | Immediate | Varies for different herbicides |
Harvest time | Have more than 65 days to harvest | Have less than 65 days to harvest |
Weed Complex of Weed Control Advisor |
Weed Name | Other Common Names |
Alligatorweed | |
Ammania | Redstem |
Barnyardgrass | Millet, Redtop |
Cocklebur | |
Crabgrass | |
Dayflower | Wandering Jew, Jew Grass, Turtle Back |
Ducksalad | |
Eclipta | Yurba De Tago |
False Pimpernel | Fake Pimpernel |
Fimbristylis | Annual Fringerush, Hoorah Grass |
Flatsedges | |
Gooseweed | |
Hemp Sesbania | Coffeebean, Tall Indigo |
Jointvetch | Indigo |
Morningglory | Tie Vine |
Red Rice | |
Signalgrass | Bracharia |
Smart weed | |
Spikerush | |
Sprangletop | |
Texasweed | Jap Bur, Bird-Eye |
Water Hyssop | |
Yellow Nutsedge | Nutgrass, Cocograss |
Herbicides Considered in Weed Control Advisor
Common Name |
Trade name |
molinate |
Ordram 8E® |
molinate |
Ordram 15G® |
thiobencarb |
Bolero 8E® |
propanil |
several |
bentazon |
Basagran |
2, 4 - D |
several |
MCPA |
several |
acifluorfen |
Blazer® |
fenoxaprop |
Whip® |
pendimethalin |
Prowl® |
Londax® |
Londax® |
Facet® |
Facet® |
Document Author: |
Suna Bozkurt |
Send mail to | Suna Bozkurt |
Photos: | AESRG |
Revised: |
October 28, 1998 |
Copyright © 1997 AgroEcoSystems Research Group, TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY |