| Abstract |
The objective of this study was to design a fertigation program using the expert system (ES).To achieve the objective of this study, the following steps were required:
i.
Identification of the problem
ii.
Analysis of the information
iii.
Characterizing the variables of the key factors and qualifiers.
The study involved also a comparison between the ES program outputs and the corresponding ones recommended by the Ministry of Agriculture. To establish such a comparative study, a field experiment was executed on bean plant after dividing the filed of study into two sections. In the first, the experimental work was carried out using the ES fertigation management, while in the second section, the well known “CROPWAT Program”, was used for the scheduling of the irrigation together with the traditional methods of fertigation outlined by the Ministry of Agriculture, Egypt.
Higher values for bean crop yield were obtained by using ES (under furrow irrigation, sub drip and drip irrigation systems) than the corresponding
values of yield obtained for TR method (under drip, sub drip and furrow irrigation systems).
The values of cucumber yield obtained by using ES under drip, sub drip and furrow irrigation systems were higher than the corresponding values of yield obtained by using the TR method.
The results of comparison assured the superiority of the ES over the other traditional one, where higher values of water use efficiency “WUE” and nutrient use efficiency “NUE” were achieved by the former than the latter.
The aforementioned results impose the importance of applying an expert system program for management of fertilization and irrigation of vegetable crops such as the ones used in this investigation. Such a program besides of its ability to save water used for irrigation which in turn, reflected on higher values of water use efficiency as compared with the traditional fertilization and irrigation managements. |
