1999.
Revista Chapingo Serie Horticultura 5: 209-215.
AVOMAN & AVOINFO: SOFTWARE TO IMPROVE THE MANAGEMENT OF
AVOCADO PRODUCTIVITY AND QUALITY
Simon D. E. Newett,
Shane F. Mulo, Christine P. Bezzina
and Anthony W. Whiley
Centre
for Subtropical Fruit, Maroochy Research Station,
Queensland Horticulture Institute, Department of Primary Industries,
SUMMARY
Poor adoption of
research results indicated a need for alternative methodologies for the
transfer of technology to the Australian avocado industry. The establishment of local grower discussion
groups and the development of information and decision aid products are the two
main approaches that were used to foster the uptake and implementation of
relevant technology by Australian avocado growers. The information and decision aid products
include two software packages and one hard copy product. The software packages are AVOMAN, a farm
management system incorporating record keeping and decision support, and
AVOINFO, a reference database for avocado.
The hardcopy product is a wall chart recording system. Seasonal growth information for commercial
varieties was collected by cooperating growers throughout
Additional key words: decision aid, phenology, reference
database
INTRODUCTION
In 1992, the Australian avocado industry listed problems of low orchard productivity and irregular fruit quality among its research and development priorities. Despite the fact that the Australian avocado industry has been well serviced by research programs, only limited adoption of subsequent technology by industry has been observed in recent years. The AVOMAN project was created to provide a framework with which to standardise and package existing and future production technology and to provide a vehicle to transfer these to the Australian avocado industry. The full title of the project is “Improved Management of Avocado Productivity and Quality”. It is a national initiative designed to achieve these objectives within the Australian avocado industry.
Those who contributed to the six-year project included
research and extension officers, systems analysts, computer programmers,
agribusiness professionals, consultants and commercial avocado producers. The AVOMAN project team comprised a
multi-disciplinary group of professionals from around
THE REGIONAL PRODUCTIVITY GROUPS
The inclusion of
commercial growers in the project was formalised through the creation of
regional productivity groups (RPGs). These were formed in each of the major
production areas and apart from providing forums where local growers could
exchange ideas and information, the RPGs provided a
focus for comments, ideas and priorities for the project’s direction. They were also ideal test groups for the
three AVOMAN software prototypes produced prior to release of the commercial
version. There are currently fourteen RPGs around
·
there was a high level of awareness about the project long
before the final products were released
·
feedback from prototype users ensured that the final
products met their needs and was user-friendly
·
users were exposed to software training over a period of
four years
·
the industry had a sense of ownership of the project and hence
the final products
THE AVOMAN SOFTWARE
The AVOMAN software is designed to be used by commercial
avocado producers, consultants and extension staff. Its primary purpose is to provide:
·
record keeping and reporting facilities
·
highly customised recommendations based on the combination
of accumulated research knowledge with key information about the grower’s own
orchard
·
agronomic information.
It consists of a number of highly integrated modules.
Records
The record keeping system simplifies and standardises the recording of descriptive and quantitative information relating to the management of avocado farms. A relational database management system is used to efficiently store and access information. The user interface of this software is presented in five parts, namely the farm details, block details, orchard operations, yields and prices:
·
the farm details module is used to record information that
relates to the whole farm, namely weather, water quality, employee and customer
details
·
the block details module allows growers to record vital
descriptive information for each block of trees such as soil texture, variety,
phenological cycle, tree size, number of trees, leaf and soil analysis
results. Information such as tensiometer readings and fruit maturity results has also
been catered for. Regular updating of
information in the block details module enables the grower to develop an
historical management profile for each block
·
two modules take care of yield, quality and fruit price
records
·
the operations module
enables users to record operations such as fertiliser applications,
irrigations, sprays and pruning with associated details that include dates,
costs and rates of nutrient, chemical and labour inputs.
A product database
supports both the recording and recommendation modules. It allows the details of fertilisers,
pesticides and other chemicals to be recorded and accessed. Details include trade names, active
ingredients, nutrient analysis, registration details (pests and rates),
suitable application methods, neutralising values (for limes and dolomites),
withholding periods and costs. Copies of
the software are supplied with the details of several hundred products already
entered but users can customise this data and also enter new products
themselves.
Recommendations
The program uses the descriptive information recorded in the records module in accordance with predefined decision frameworks to make customised recommendations relating to each block of trees described. Detailed timing and rate information is calculated by combining farm information with intrinsic physiological and phenological knowledge. In the absence of some information, such as leaf and soil analysis, AVOMAN will provide conservative recommendations, however the grower is reminded by means of a suitability rating that more accurate results will be achieved if additional data is entered.
Phenological cycles
AVOMAN contains
more than 30 distinct phenological cycles for different varieties and locations
around
Fig. 1. An example of a growth cycle in AVOMAN, the point highlighted by the cursor indicates the peak of the second leaf flush. The date (and thus position) of each of the points can be easily updated.
Nutrient recommendations
Distinctive nutrient recommendations are available in AVOMAN
for:
|
·
Nitrogen |
·
Boron |
·
Iron |
|
·
Phosphorus |
·
Zinc |
·
Calcium |
|
·
Potassium |
·
Copper |
·
Magnesium |
|
·
|
·
Manganese |
·
pH adjustment |
The development of each nutrient recommendation was an extensive process. Initially, the factors governing whether or not the plant receives sufficient quantities of the element were identified. Pathways were developed that allowed each factor to be handled appropriately in relation to each of the others. Quantitative tables were then established to determine indices by which to modify the initial base rate to account for the prevailing conditions. Safeguards in the form of capping levels were established for each nutrient to ensure that rates could not be increased to the point of being toxic or counter productive. Finally, the appropriate timing was determined and linked to the phenological cycle. For the software user this process is of course unseen and automatic however background information on the factors influencing each recommendation is accessible in the Help files.
Recommendations are presented in a balance sheet (right-hand side of Fig. 2) which displays tree requirements on a weekly basis in grams of element per square metre of canopy area. A number of tools are available to enable users to match these requirements with a method of application, suitable product and rate (left-hand side of Fig. 2). The cost of the product at the rate and units selected is displayed. One advantage of a balance sheet is that recommendations can account for the use of products with multiple benefits such as fertiliser blends and broad-spectrum pesticides. For example, for any week of the year, the balance sheet will show the complete nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium requirements and the program is able to recommend the most suitable product (from the product database) to match the combination of the three elements (Fig.2).
Fig. 2. An example of a nutrient recommendation screen showing a fertiliser that AVOMAN has chosen to best match the nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium requirements for week 35.
Users have significant flexibility in how they operate the program and in the level of detail they record. They can, for example, alter the details of each recommendation such as product, rate, method and date at any time or even choose to ignore the recommendations suggested by AVOMAN and simply use the software as a recording and reporting mechanism. Any variation from the recommended requirement will be displayed as a surplus or deficit for the week, indicating to the user how much their changes differ from the recommendation calculated by AVOMAN. Details such as labour and machinery costs, name of employee and notes can be recorded for each job. For foliar sprays the time of spraying, wind direction and strength can also be recorded. Users also have choices on how much of this detail appears in the reports. Once the details of a job are finalised they can be saved either as a reminder or a completed job. It is possible to generate lists of reminders for any specified date range for use as work schedules. Once a task has been completed, the status of a job can be changed from “reminder” to “done” with one mouse click and, at the same time, the associated details can be updated to reflect any departure from the original reminder.
Other options offered by AVOMAN include the ability to alter
the interval between fertiliser applications for each element (to say weekly,
fortnightly or three monthly) and, for experienced growers, the option to vary
the base rates for the nitrogen, potassium and boron recommendations. Time saving features allow
the user to:
·
record a job for several blocks at once
·
pre-define mixtures of fertilisers and/or chemicals that are
applied together
·
record a number of jobs that are repeated at regular
intervals via one entry
Pest and disease recommendations
Recommendations are available for thirty-one Australian
pests and diseases. These include root
rot, anthracnose, spotting bug and
Planner
In order to provide growers with an overall perspective of their management, the planner was developed. It works in a similar way to a wall planner. Users can see a larger portion of the year at a glance than is possible in the operations window. Farm operations and reminders appear in the planner as squares that are colour coded according to which category of farm operation they fall into (Fig. 3). The presence of a diagonal line or cross through the square indicates the degree of completion of the job(s) that the square represents. The status of the job (whether it has been done or not) and the date and rate details can be changed from within the planner.
Fig. 3. An example of the AVOMAN orchard planner
showing an overall perspective of the reminders set and jobs completed for the
year. Clicking on any coloured square
will display the details and status of the job(s) it represents and allow
editing.
Reports
One of the benefits of keeping records electronically is that the data can be processed to generate a wide range of reports. The reporting facility in AVOMAN currently contains over thirty different types of reports and graphs that are useful for farm management, quality assurance and performance benchmarking purposes. Most reports allow the user to choose the reporting period, the degree of detail and the units used. Reports available include:
