Priority selection of agro-meteorological parameters for integrated plant diseases management through analytical hierarchy process

Abstract

To understand the influence of agro-meteorological parameters to take decisions related to various factors in an integrated plant disease management, it becomes vital to carry out scientific studies on the factors affecting it. The different agro-meteorological parameters namely temperature, humidity, moisture, rain, phenological week, cropping season, soil type, location, precipitation, heat index, and cloud coverage have been considered for this study. Each parameter has been allocated the ranking by using a technique called analytical hierarchical process (AHP). The parameter priorities are determined by calculating the Eigenvalues. This helps to make decisions related to integrated plant disease management where the prediction of plant disease occurrence, yield prediction, irrigation requirements, and fertilization recommendations can be taken. To take these decisions which parameters are good indicators can be identified using this method. The parameters majorly contribute to plant diseases and pest management decision making while delivers minor contribution in irrigation and fertilizer management related decision making. The manual results are compared with software generated results which indicates that both the results correlate with each other. Therefore, AHP technique can be successfully implemented for prioritizing agro-meteorological parameters for integrated plant diseases management as the results for both levels are consistent (consistency ratio < 0.1).