Title: Decision Support Systems in the control of Potato Early blight (Alternaria solani and Alternaria alternata)

Potato early blight (Alternaria solani and Alternaria alternata) is one of the important diseases in potato production worldwide. Farmers usually do routine application of fungicides, which could span from the beginning of the season until vine kill, regardless of the disease severity or how favourable the environment is for early blight outbreak. This practices of fungicides application often results in superfluous fungicide applications. Besides, concerns about the environment, health risk, cost, and resistance development associated with excessive use of fungicides have necessitated the use of forecasting models or Decision support system (DSS) to optimize the application of fungicides.

The objective of this project is to study the influence of host dynamics, host resistance and the presence of inoculum on PEB, and evaluation of epidemiological models which are necessary for developing a holistic predictive system for the control of potato early blight.