CPM-CAST: An Early Warning Computerized Model for Cucumber Powdery Mildew in Egypt

Morsi, Hebat-Allah H.; Gado, Emad A.M.; Zayan, Sahar A.M.

doi:10.21608/ejp.2011.229827

CPM-CAST: An Early Warning Computerized Model for Cucumber Powdery Mildew in Egypt

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Plant Pathology Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, 12619, Giza, Egypt

² Plant Pathology Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams University, P.O. Box 68, Hadayek Shobra, 11241, Cairo, Egypt

10.21608/ejp.2011.229827

Abstract

Powdery mildew caused by Podosphaera xanthii (Syn. Sphaerotheca fuliginea) is considered one of the most devastating diseases which can causes complete loss of the crop and poses a major threat to the Egyptian's cucumber production. The first Egyptian early warning computerized model CPM-CAST is an integral linking system based on short-term observations over several cucumber growing seasons. It analyzes real time, 24 hours microclimate and data collected automatically by an advanced Agro-weather station (Adcon Telemetry A733). CPM-CAST was designed and validated under both computers' Labs and field conditions to forecast the cucumber powdery mildew disease daily infection potential (DDIP). Subsequently, it was evaluated as an advisory system to reduce number of fungicides application compared with the fundamental applications during 2008 and 2009. The basic roles of system analysis for model validation and evaluation are discussed. On the other hand, the positive performance for using CPM-CAST to forecast powdery mildew infection was detected in decreasing number of fungicide application (2 sprays) and disease severity in comparison with the traditional fungicides application (4 sprays).

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