BASF has developed a new and fully comprehensive Cereal Disease ID app for iPhone users. Developed as a mobile form of the popular BASF and HGCA Encyclopaedia of Cereal Diseases, the app allows the user to have immediate access to information about 36 diseases of cereal crops, enabling in-field identification and understanding of the pathogens responsible.
“Symptoms of common and less frequently found diseases are illustrated and described together with an outline of the disease cycle of the pathogen(s) responsible and an indication of the importance of the disease,” BASF’s Peter Hughes said. “While the Cereal Disease ID app is intended for use by UK farmers and agronomists, many of the diseases can be found in other areas of the world as well.”
The Cereal Disease ID App is based on the popular HGCA & BASF Encyclopaedia of Cereal Diseases and allows the user to search by common disease name or pathogen or enter a free text search. It gives quick and easy mobile access to information on 36 key cereal diseases to aid identification, including symptoms, life cycle, host, importance and photographs. There’s also the facility to email the information to an email address of your choice.
Bill Clark, who was closely involved in the development of the Encyclopaedia of Cereal Diseases and has trialled the app, believes that this easily accessible source of information, on the move, will serve to make disease ID, and ultimately control, easier.
“The need to deliver consistent high yields of quality grain makes control of cereal diseases a vital component of any successful crop production system,” he said. “Recognition of the disease and an understanding of the pathogens responsible is the first step in this process, and being able to do this in the field is a welcome development.”
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The BASF Cereal Disease ID app can be downloaded for free from iTunes. |
The the app should help identify cereal diseases, it’s not intended to be a guide to disease control; such information is readily available from elsewhere, such as the HGCA Wheat Disease Management Guide and the HGCA website, or BASF’s technical hotline.
The BASF Cereal Disease ID app is available to download free from iTunes.
For more information visit: www.agricentre.basf.co.uk.
