Training Resource for Improvement of Visual Assessment of Field Crop Disease and Insect Defoliation Severity

Abstract

The Field Crop Disease and Insect Defoliation Severity Training Tool is an interactive online resource designed to help crop scouts and researchers to increase visual assessment skills for disease symptom and insect defoliation severity on plant leaves or other tissue. With two training options, it is widely available for any type of computer, tablet, or smartphone through common web browsers. The Field Crop Disease and Insect Defoliation Severity Training Tool is accessible through the Crop Protection Network website (www.cropprotectionnetwork.org). The training tool was designed to be updated for additional crops and tissue types, as well as for different disease lesions. Accurate assessment of severity is useful for making informed decisions regarding pest management, assessing research treatments, and assessing crop losses caused by injury. [Figure: see text] Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.

Keywords

• crop scouting
• evaluation
• herbivory
• injury
• phytopathometry
• software