Use of geographic information systems in warning services for late blight*

One of the important aims of the German Crop Protection Services (GCPS) is to reduce spraying intensity as part of an environmentally friendly crop protection strategy. ZEPP is the central institution in Germany responsible for the development of methods with the goal of improving the control of plant diseases and, to this end, more than 20 meteorological data‐based models have been developed and introduced into practice. This study shows that it is possible to improve the accuracy of the results given by the models by using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The influence of elevation, slope and aspect on meteorological data was interpolated with GIS and the results were used as input for forecasting models. The results will be presented as spatial risk maps on which areas of maximum disease risk are displayed. The modern presentation methods of GIS enable the results to be displayed in a more user‐friendly way.     

Impact of climate change on the temporal and regional occurrence of Cercospora leaf spot in Lower Saxony

Journal of Plant Diseases and Protection - The effect of climate change on the temporal and regional occurrence of Cercospora leaf spot (CLS) of sugar beet in Lower Saxony is analysed using the...