=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-2030/HAICTA_2017_paper57
|storemode=property
|title=Utilization of RIMpro Cloud Services for Managing of Apple Scab in Kosovo
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2030/HAICTA_2017_paper57.pdf
|volume=Vol-2030
|authors=Edmond Rexhepi,Harallamb Paçe,Hekuran Vrapi,Arbenita Hasani Rexhepi
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/haicta/RexhepiPVR17
}}
==Utilization of RIMpro Cloud Services for Managing of Apple Scab in Kosovo==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2030/HAICTA_2017_paper57.pdf
Utilization of RIMpro cloud services for managing of
Apple scab in Kosovo
Edmond Rexhepi1, Harallamb Paçe2, Hekuran Vrapi2, Arbenita Hasani3
1
Department of Plant Protection, Agricultural University of Tirana,
Tirana, Albania, e-mail: rexhepiedmond@yahoo.com
2
Department of Plant Protection, Agricultural University of Tirana,
Tirana, Albania, e-mail: ha.pace@yahoo.com; hvrapi@gmail.com
3
Department of Food Technology, University of Prishtina,
Prishtina, Kosovo, e-mail: arbenitahasani@gmail.com
Abstract. The fungus disease of Apple scab caused by Venturia inaequalis
(Cooke) G. Wint remains the major problems for apple and pear farmers in
Kosovo. In order to find out the best fungicide application timing intervals for
managing of this fungus disease, for the first time in Kosovo it was used the
decision support system RIM-pro (relative infection measure program)
developed in Holland. This cloud services platform simulates the development
of pseudothecia, ascospore maturation, discharge and infection development
based on hourly received weather data and leaf wetness data from
meteorological station sensors which are set up in the orchard. The experiment
work was performed in one experimental apple orchard in region of Gjilan in
Kosovo, during two years of research 2015-2016. Besides the finding of most
appropriate treatment intervals this study emphasizes the importance of
reducing of the number of fungicide seasonal treatments.
Keywords: Severity, RIMpro, apple scab, infection, treatments.
1 Introduction
Apple scab is the most serious fungal disease, affecting apple and pear trees. Its
causal agent attacks foliage, blossoms and fruits, resulting in the defoliation of trees
and making the fruits unmarketable (Meszka 2015). If the disease is not controlled,
over 80% of fruits of susceptible cultivars can be damaged. Depending on the risk of
disease, 10 to 15 or even more fungicidal applications are usually needed for efficient
control (Meszka 2015). The number of treatments depends on cultivar susceptibility,
the amount of source infection and weather conditions, mainly air temperature, leaf
wetness, relative humidity and rainfall (Gadoury et al. 1998, Stensvand et al. 1998).
In the IT software market, there are some software programs for agriculture or cloud
platforms such as APPLESCAB (Blaise.1987), VENTEMTM (Butt. 1992), RIMpro
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(Trapman. 1994), WELTE (Aalbers et al. 1998), A-scab (Rossi et al. 2007) NEWA
(Cornell University), SkyBit (www.skybit.com), AgRadar (University of Maine),
Field-Climate (Pessl Instruments) and Ranch systems (CA, USA) whose provide
information for infection development based on estimation for severity infection of
apple scab depending on climatic conditions in the cultivated zone, development
stages of the pathogen provided by the researcher and the type of apple cultivar being
monitored or cultivated in terms of pathogen resistance. In this research work is used
RIMpro which is cloud services platform developed in Holland (Trapman 1994) and
improved throughout the years with many upgrades and additional disease and pets
models.
Fig. 1. Login session of RIMpro platform for individual user/grower account.
The Relative Infection Measure Program (RIM-pro) as decision support system
estimates the infections caused by ascospores and conidias. This program utilizes the
meteorological data’s received from the weather station and for this work the data’s
are provided by station model i-Metos 200 developed by Pessl Instruments from
Austria. This program also interacts directly with the researcher or farmer for data
inputs such as bio-fix (green tip), cultivars, type of fungicides used, amount of
fungicides used, frequency of treatment times, tree’s height and distance, rows
distance, etc. On the figure 2 is provided a simple scheme of interaction between the
all components of this system.
The aim of this work was to determine the best fungicide application timing
intervals to control the Apple scab on apple Starking cultivar as susceptible cultivar
and to see the possibility for reducing the number of fungicide treatment times.
2 Material and Methods
This research work was conducted in location of Zhegra at region of Gjilan in
Kosovo during the years 2015-2016 at one experimental apple orchard which has
four apple cultivars in cultivation: Starking, Golden delicious, Granny Smith and
Gala. The experiment was designed as one factorial for fungicide treatment timing
intervals with 8 different levels (variants). On the month of August of both years, for
every apple tree which was used in randomized block were picked randomly by 50
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leaves on all sides of the tree for observation. In the laboratory were analyzed 3200
leaves.
On the month of October of both years, are harvested all the fruits from same trees
for observation. The apple scab severity (Imc %) was evaluated based on leaf/fruit
surface infected area on the Starking cultivar. The infection level was assessed based
on 6-degree scale as per EPPO standard PP1/5 (3).
Table 1. Categories and levels of classification for Apple scab severity assessment
Category Intensity level Infection level
0 Nothing noticed 0 % of leaf or fruit surface infected
1 Light intensity 0.1 - 10 % of leaf or fruit surface infected
2 Medium intensity 10.1 - 25 % of leaf or fruit surface infected
3 Strong intensity 25.1 - 50 % of leaf or fruit surface infected
4 Very strong intensity 50.1 - 75 % of leaf or fruit surface infected
5 Destructive intensity > 75 % of leaf or fruit surface infected
The severity of infection (Imc %) is calculated with McKinney’s index (McKinney
1923), which is modified by B.M Cooke (Cooke at al. 2006).
(ni x ki)
I= x100
NxK
I = disease severity index; ni = number of leaves or fruits in respective category; ki =
number of each category; N = total number of leaves/fruits analyzed; K = total
number of categories.
Table 2. Treatment timing intervals and used fungicides
Level Treatment Time Intervals Fungicides
L1 Phenological phases of apple Copper hydroxide 50WG, Dodine 400SC
L2 Local Farmers treat. times Copper hydroxide 50WG, Mancozeb 80WP
L3 Control tree's No treatment with fungicides
Copper hydroxide 50WG, Tebuconazole
L4 Program 1
250EW, Captan 80WG
Copper hydroxide 50WG, Propineb 70WP,
L5 Program 2
Difenconazole 250EC
Copper hydroxide 50WG, Trifloxystrobin
L6 Program 3
50WG Chlorothalonil 720SC
Copper hydroxide 50WG, Cyprodinil
L7 Program 4
50WG, Dithianon 700WG
L8 RIMpro time intervals Copper hydroxide 50WG, Dodine 400SC
Level 1 is performed as per Phenological phases of apple. L2 is performed in same
time as local farmers in the zone. L3 had no treatment. L4 to L7 are based on
fungicide manufacturer’s recommendation. L8 is as per timing intervals provided by
RIMpro.
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The weather data’s are obtained from meteorological station i-METOS 200
developed and prepared by Pessl Instruments (www.metos.at), which is set up on the
experimental orchard. Hourly records of rainfall, temperature, dew point, relative
humidity and periods of leaf wetness inside and outside the tree were obtained from
this station and provided to RIMpro, which then analyzes and prognoses the
warnings. RIMpro provides the data’s to the user or farmer every hour within 24hr
period on the situation and is considered by most users to be a very reliable platform.
Fig. 2. The scheme of communication and interaction between i-Metos, RIMpro and farmer.
The statistical data analysis: all data processing for this research work with one
way Anova for averages, variance and standard deviation is used SAS 2013
University edition. The comparison of averages of the disease severity is performed
with Tukey-Kramer test and additional comparison of levels with the control trees is
performed with Dunnett’s test.
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Fig. 3. i-METOS 200 meteorological station and one of the leaf wetness sensors set-up in
experimental orchard in Zhegra, Kosovo.
3 Results and Discussion
One way Anova of disease index shows the statistical differences between the
treatment time intervals used for controlling of the disease severity on the leaves and
fruits for the year 2015 as shown in Fig. 4 with leaves on upper box plot and fruits on
lower box where are presented the standard deviation, average of disease severity per
variant and variations. The variants rings have significant differences for the
probability of p=0.05 as per Tukey-Kramer test as well as per Dunnett’s test
comparing to the control variant with red ring. All variants of treatment times are
below overall average value, which is 24.88% for leaves and 13.27% for fruits,
except for the local farmer’s variant which is above the overall avg.
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Fig. 4. The diagrams of box plots for variance, standard deviation and average of
disease severity for apple scab on leaves (upper box) and for fruits (lower box) for
year 2015.
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Fig. 5. The diagrams of box plots for standard deviation, variance and disease severity average
for apple scab on leaves (upper box) and fruits (lower box) for year 2016.
The statistical differences between the treatment time intervals used for
controlling of the disease severity on the leaves and fruits for the year 2016 as shown
in Fig. 5 with leaves on upper box plot and fruits on lower box, where are presented
the standard deviation, average of disease severity per variant and variations. The
variants rings on same diagrams have significant differences for the probability of
p=0.05 as per Tukey-Kramer test as well as per Dunnett’s test comparing to the
control variant. All treatment times (variants) are below overall average value, which
is 25.49% for leaves and 13.05% for fruits, except for the local farmer’s variant
which has higher average than overall average.
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4 Conclusions
The timing intervals for treatment with fungicides prognosed by decision support
system RIMpro, it proves to be the best treatment plan for controlling of the fungus
of Apple scab (Venturia inaequalis) comparing to other treatment time intervals for
this research work.
The combination of two fungicides such as Copper hydroxide 50WG than
followed with Dodine 400SC, it resulted to provide the best fungicides effectiveness
for controlling of the Apple scab comparing to other variants which have one
additional fungicide in their combination.
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