Agricultural Sciences in China

2011, 10(5): 805-812

May 2011

Development of a Non-Pollution Orange Fruit Expert System Software Based on ASP.NET

LI Yi-shan1 and HONG Li-fang2
1 2

Institute of Network Technology, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing 100876, P.R.China Agricultural Environment and Resource Institute, Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Kunming 650205, P.R.China

Abstract
Based on ASP.NET, a orange fruit tree fertilizer expert system software was developed. The system could simulate and decide an annual fertilization plan for young and mature trees in terms of geographical position and climate. This paper introduced the design conditions, framework, production, and deployment of the system. It exhibited characters of orange specialty and was a typical online agriculture expert system. The use of the system for orange fruit management could decrease production cost, guarantee orange quality and improve economical benefit at the same time. Farmer using the system saved N input by 41-238 g/plant, P2O5 input 3-24 g/plant, and K2O input 1-36 g/plant, and got higher yield by 6-17 kg/plant. Key words: rational fertilization, expert system, orange fruit tree, ASP.NET

INTRODUCTION
Although environmental conditions of the cultivation area, variety, disease, and pest control satisfy the requirement of plant growth, if fertilization is not appropriate, the goal of a high efficacy plantation cannot be reached. Orange is a typical tropical and subtropical perennial evergreen fruit tree, that grows the whole year in suitable conditions, and has no obvious deep dormancy. Its quantity of fertilizer requirement has been shown to be more than most deciduous fruit trees, and has a large number of types and varieties (Xu 2003). It has been complicated to develop a system project to reach a pollution-free plantation target. Many research works manifested that it was hard to popularize fertilizer recommendations based on soil testing because of the relative weak annual fruit yield of oranges, the growth tendency of fruit trees, and the
Received 30 April, 2010 Accepted 8 October, 2010

nutrient content of orange orchard soil (Zhang and Hu 1985; Zhou 1988, 1989, 1994, 2003). In the present study, it was found that the best way to fulfill pollution-free fertilization of orange fruit trees was by means of applying an agricultural expert system to instruct fertilization, in terms of the majority of condition of orchards, ability of technical groups, and fertilizer experiences of productive pollution-free orange orchards.

BASIC KNOWLEDGE OF THE SYSTEM

Pollution-free orange variety and planting soil quality standards
In terms of national standard specification GB18406.22001, there are two aspects for non-pollution fruit: One was permissible concentration limits of heavy metals & harmful substances, the other was the maximum limi-

Correspondence HONG Li-fang, Professor, Ph D, Mobile: 13187836847, Fax: +86-871-5168156, E-mail: gredbean@163.com

2011, CAAS. All rights reserved. Published by Elsevier Ltd. doi:10.1016/S1671-2927(11)60065-5

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tation of pesticide residues. The primary factor relative to fertilization was the former, index limitation of heavy metal and pesticide content are shown in Table 1.
Table 1 Permissible concentration limit of some heavy metals & harmful substances in orange fruit and soil
Item As Hg Pb Cr Cd F NaNO 2 NaNO 3 666 DDT Orange fruit (mg kg-1) 0.5 0.01 0.2 0.5 0.03 0.5 4.0 400 pH<6.5 40 0.3 250 150 0.3 Soil (mg kg-1) pH 6.5-7.5 30 0.5 300 200 0.3 pH>7.5 25 1.0 350 250 0.6

0.5 0.5

0.5 0.5

0.5 0.5

Fertilization influence on orange variety and orchard environment

Chemical fertilizer is an important source of contamination of oranges and the orchard environment. Improper or neglectful application of organic or inorganic fertilizers pollutes oranges, the orchard and the surrounding area. On the premise of satisfying pollution-free planting areas, heavy metals, such as As, Hg, Pb, Cr, Cd, and F, should not exceed national relative standards, besides these heavy metals almost have no relation with fertilization. However, nitrite and nitrate have a close relationship with fertilization (Nakhalla and Hake 1998; Lenz 2000; Mattos et al. 2003; Menino et al. 2003). Many researches manifested that excess chemical nitrogen fertilizer caused excessive accumulation of nitrate in oranges and orchard soils (Obreza and Rouse 1993; Alva et al. 1999; Boarctto et al . 1999). The excessive use of chemical fertilizers or unsuitable proportions of organic and chemical fertilizers causes the deficiency of soil organic matter and superfluous nutrients entering into the environment by means of runoff, leaching, denitrification, and erosion causing contamination of water, soil, and atmosphere (LeaCox et al. 2001; Paramasivam et al. 2001).

proving the quality and quantity of fruit product, but also protecting and improving the biological environment of the production area, and restraining agriculture non-point pollution because of unsuitable fertilization. Protecting and improving biological environment of producing area makes sustainable development of pollution-free orange production. To achieve this goal, use of experience of expert primarily must be used, and examination of the system made in terms of chemical, physical, and biological tests. Based on the above analyses, many pollution-free fertilization methods and ideas of different orange experts at all levels were analyzed. From this, the target of key techniques of implementation of pollution-free fertilization was decided according to Embleton (1998) as follows: 1) As to the decision of annual application quantity of N, P, and K fertilizers, the idea of experts was that the soil condition decided production, production decided the amount of N needed, which in turn decided the P and K requirements; 2) based on experience of experts, the nutrient condition of fruit was diagnosed, then application of secondary and micronutrient fertilizer were recommended; 3) based on local geographical and climatic conditions, fertilizer proportion and application time for different growing periods (flower, stable fruit, strong fruit, and pick fruit) were formulated from ideas of experts. During the application period, fertilizer combinations were formulated; 4) annual fertilization program in terms of results of A, B, and C were formulated, and care had to be taken to make sure each measure had close relationship with fertilization and orange growth.

SYSTEM DESIGN
System function
As a integrated system, the system had not only the function of an expert system, but also data inquiry, relative theory and nowledge, registration and management of user, connection of relative website, and role of multimedia functions, etc.

Key techniques of pollution-free fertilization

The goal of pollution-free fertilization is not only im-

Module set and framework of the system

For satisfying requirement of the function of the system,
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Development of Non-Pollution Orange Fruit Expert System Software Based on ASP.NET

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six modules were set up: 1) The expert system had three modules including simulation and formulation of the fertilization project for sapling and mature trees, and diagnosis nutrient disturburbance (Kato 1980; Calot et al. 1994); 2) data inquiry functions had three modules consisting of character inquiry of orange variety, inquiry of organic manure content, and physicochemical characteristics inquiry of inorganic fertilizer; 3) technique operation module consisting of fertilization methods of orange fruit trees and fertilization techniques of special fruit trees (Obreza 1993); 4) relative knowledge module consisting of essential nutrient element of orange and influencing factors of orange nutrient absorption (Alva and Tucker 1997); 5) multimedia, photography, and role of video with six modules, respectively; 6) the web application program module with eight modules, including home page, login system, user registration, information modification, password inquiry, logout, connection relative to the website, system reference module, etc. The system framework is shown in Fig. 1.

Implementation project of function of the expert system

The implementation of the expert system function module was the key point. Obviously, other function modules already had mature techniques and methods. Discussion has not been made for other function modules here. The implementation of simulation and formulation fertilization project of mature tree and experiential diagnosis of nutritional disturbance modules is highlighted.

Simulation and formulation of fertilization project for mature tree

The fertilization project is the program of annual fertilization work and operation guide of each technical measure, including amount of each fertilizer, number of application and distribution proportion, application time and methods, fertilizer source and combination, etc. In terms of nutritional characteristics of different varieties, breeds of orange tree, pollution-free fertilization ideas, and experiences of orange plantation experts, the following expression forms were adopted. Expression of knowledge: Producing knowledge regulation + Model Resulting deduction: positive deduction Annual application amount of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium plant nutrients was the foundation to simulate and formulate fertilization project. The factors influencing annual application of amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium were complicated, and these influencing factors were controlled by genetic character of orange and special environmental conditions (Alva et al. 1999). This module made use of pollution-free fertilization operation model of orange fruit trees developed by Zhou et al. (2009) to decide annual application rates of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. The independent variable of this model is a group of variables including orange type (X1), age span of tree (X2), yield of one plant (X3), abundant or deficient level of soil organic matter (X4), and the function is the annual application amounts of nitrogen fertilizer on orange trees, creating a multi-variable quadratic polynomial and sigmoid curve function (Table 2). This func-

Analysis of module relationship

Simulation and formulation of fertilization project of sapling and mature trees were the two core modules of the system. All other modules interacted with them. Orange nutrient elements and required fertilizer character module provided theory support for simulation and formulation of fertilization project, and influenced factors of nutrient absorption module dissemination relative knowledge for users while improving understanding of fertilization project for users (Kato 1996). Experiential diagnosis of nutrition disturbance module supported the basis for application of secondary and micronutrients. Fertilization methods of orange trees and special tree modules offered technical introduction for user applying fertilization project. Common organic and inorganic fertilizer modules provided data to support optimum combinations of fertilizer. The role of photography and video module, by playing videos and photographs, was to improve visual ability and applied effect of the system, and finally to improve confidence in the fertilization project by the users.

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Fig. 1 System framework.

tion also had obvious, tactic, and interactional characteristics (Fig. 2). The process to simulate and formulate fertilization project of mature tree is as follows: 1) The system makes use of the model to decide annual sum of application dosage of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium fertilizer, in terms of type of orange fruit tree, age of trees, yield of one plant, and

abundant or deficient level of soil organic matter, based on geographical position and climate. Secondary and micronutrient fertilizer decisions were based on results of experiential diagnosis of nutrition; 2) the system decides the proportion of N, P, and K for different growing periods (florescence, stable fruit, and strong fruit) in terms of required nutrient characteristics of different types of orange trees; 3) the system optimizes the
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Table 2 The mathematic formulas of the mode (Zhang and Hu 1985)

Mathematic formula Cl Demonstration Corrective value of absorbed N dosage of different kinds of oranges, which is a set of constant Relationship between the absorbed N amount of orange and age of tree & yield of one plant Ynl=Yn+Cl Annual absorbed N amount of different kinds of oranges (g/plant) Nature supply amount of soil N element (g/plant) Usage rate of N fertilizer Annual application amount of N fertilizer of different kinds of oranges (g/plant) Fertilization proportion of N, P2O5, K2O of different kinds of oranges Annual application amount of P2O5 of different kinds of oranges (g/plant) Annual application amount of K2O of different kinds of oranges (g/plant)

Nl=(Ynl-Ynt)/Ln Nl:Pl:Kl=1:Cpl:Ckl Pl=NlCpl Kl=NlCkl

Fig. 2 The structural diagram of pollution-free fertilization operational model of orange species fruit tree.

combination of fertilizer and source for different growing periods (florescence, stable fruit, and strong fruit) based on the principle that organic and slow-efficiency fertilizer was primary and common and fast-efficiency fertilizer was secondary, in terms of different growth phases required nutrient characteristics of different types of orange trees; 4) the system decided the most suitable application period and measures of N, P, and K of florescence, stable fruit, and strong fruit fertilizer in terms of different growth phases required nutrient characters of different types of orange trees. The system compiled knowledge, the weave out-repository (pure text file), and protract deduction track, and provided support for execution of program and creation of repository in terms of the above process.

morphological diagnosis, etc. For the definition of the expert system, diagnosis of nutritional disturbance of orange trees must make use of computer techniques to simulate plant nutrition and examine in terms of experiences and abnormal performance. Morphological diagnosis was the foundation of experiential diagnosis, because absence and abundant of the nutrition of the inner tree counteracts the natural physical activity, and caused special symptoms on the exterior of the tree (e.g., leaf, fruit, twig, root, etc.). On the basis of summarizing many plant nutritional symptoms and experiences of orange plantation experts, the deduction model of experiential diagnosis was made successfully. Similarly, the knowledge was collected and relative outer repository (pure text files) was compiled for providing foundation of programming and executing program and creating the repository in terms of requirements of the repository creating program. The expression forms were adopted as follows, in terms of character of experiential diagnosis. Expression of knowledge: producing knowledge regulation. Resulting deduction: positive deduction.

Background database design

Based on the function requirement of the system, background database was relatively simple, only needing to create a database that included eight data tables (Table 3).

Experiential diagnosis of nutritional disturbance

There were some methods for plant nutrient examination, which included chemical, bio-chemical, physical,

PRODUCTION, EXECUTION, AND DEPLOYMENT OF THE SYSTEM

The system adopted the B/S mode based on ASP.NET.

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Table 3 Name and demonstration of data tables

Name t_Users t_gjpz t_yjfcf t_wjflhtx t_yystbx t_yystclff t_tpwjm t_spwjm Demonstration User information Type and variety of orange Content of organic fertilizer Physicochemical characteristics of inorganic fertilizer Performance of nutritional disorder Dealing methods of nutritional disorder File name of photography File name of video

maintaining the program.

Overall test of the system

The program in the local area network and internet was tested successfully based on the functional requirements of the system. The system adopted the B/S mode, the authors had briefly demonstrated the requirements of hardware and software. For server side The web system was commonweal web site, and had no special requirement of server hardware which could run Windows 2003, IIS 5.0, .net framework 1.0 and SQL Server software stably. For client side Almost any computer with internet Explorer 5.0 and an internet connection could visit the system at address http://yaobiao.com/gjfses

Development platform and tools

Development platform: Windows XP SP2, IIS V5.0, and .net framework 1.0. Development tools: Visual Studio 2003, SQL Server 2000, and Flash 8.

Programming
The use of C# language to program repository creation and database maintained program. The use of Visual Basic language to program system running program based on ASP.NET: 1) The programs system in terms of module in the Visual Studio 2003 IDE, and modify, debug program at local computer; 2) The integration of overall module and debug, author modified them in the same programming environment.

DEMONSTRATION OF THE SYSTEM

Demonstrations were conducted at three villages in Jianshui County, Yunnan Province, China, from 2008 to 2009. The comparisons between the system recommendation and practice of farmers are shown in Table 4. Compared with the practice of farmers, N application amounts of system recommendation were decreased by 44-67 g/plant at Majun, 41-238 g/plant at Miandian, and 58-237 g/plant at Linan, Jianshui County, Yunnan Province, China. P2O5 application amounts were decreased by 3 g/plant at Majun, 6-9 g/plant at Miandian, and 13-24 g/plant at Linan. K2O application amounts were decreased by 13-36 g/plant at Majun, 1-9 g/plant at Miandian, and 21-26 g/plant at Linan. However, the yield was increased by 14-17 kg/plant at Majun, 6-7 kg/plant at Miandian, and 9-16 kg/plant at Linan.

Use and make-up of swf files

The system adopted the precept of embedding swf file into the web page to implement play of depict text, photography, and video. Through this method, on one hand it was possible to improve visual ability of the web page, on the other hand, it proved convenient to update and maintain the content of web page. swf file was created by Maromedia Flash 8.

DISCUSSION
Creation of repository and input of data
Repository creation program was used to put outer repository (pure text files) assumable into pseudo code repository. The data stemmed from references and literatures collected and trimmed and input made by means of This system, as compared with some related systems about nutrition of fruit trees, had some advantages. First, simulation and formulation fertilization projects of sapling and mature tree in the system were based on experiences of experts. Using the system to guide fertilization it decreased production cost, guaranteed or-

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Table 4 Comparison between the system recommendation and practice of farmers

Item System recommen-dation Site Majun Age of tree (yr) 10 Fertilizer N P 2O 5 K 2O N P 2O 5 K 2O N P 2O 5 K 2O N P 2O 5 K 2O N P 2O 5 K 2O N P 2O 5 K 2O Blooming Maturity Fruit dressing (g/plant) dressing (g/plant) dressing (g/plant) 104-127 73-98 88-119 137-168 96-129 117-158 162-199 77-104 123-166 120-150 80-130 80-130 150-200 130-190 110-140 150-200 100-150 110-140 17-20 11-16 14-19 23-28 16-21 19-25 27-53 12-17 20-27 121-148 85-115 102-139 161-196 112-151 136-185 189-232 90-121 143-194 150-200 100-160 200-350 120-140 250-400 130-140 Pre-harvest dressing (g/plant) 104-127 73-98 88-119 137-169 96-129 117-158 162-198 77-104 123-166 120-140 150-200 150-220 150-250 200-250 170-250 200-300 180-210 190-300 Sum (g/plant) 346-423 242-327 294-397 459-562 321-434 391-529 542-663 256-347 409-554 390-490 230-330 330-410 500-800 330-440 400-530 600-900 280-360 430-580 Yield (kg/plant) 57-68

Miandian

15

74-85

Linan

20

82-94

Practice of farmers

Majun

10

40-54

Miandian

15

68-78

Linan

20

73-78

Tested variety is Jinchen. Tweenty plants were chosen to investigate at each site. -, no fertilizer.

ange quality, and economical benefit at the same time. There was no need for special devices or executing physicochemical and biological tests. According to feedback of farmers, if the orange orchard followed the recommendation of system to carry on its management in an orderly way, it could bring great benefit to the farmers. Farmer using the system could save N input by 41-238 g/plant, P2O5 input 3-24 g/plant, and K2O input 1-36 g/plant, and get higher yield by 6-17 kg/plant. However, most of the related systems about fruit trees were based on soil and plant nutrient analysis or fertilization response function (Calot et al. 1994; Kato 1996; Embleton et al. 1998). It was more accurate but costly. Secondly, experiential diagnosis of nutrition disturbance could meet the requirement of spot diagnosis of orange orchard. It implemented online deduction, and intelligence. When the system was executing deduction, it required information provided by users, because the fruit farmer and professional worker can provide reliable and correct answers with high reliability. According to feedback of users, there was a close relationship between reliability of data provided by the user and related extent of deductive result. However, other related public systems were using offline programs to diagnose nutrition disturbance for fruit trees. The popularity of these systems is quite limited. Although the experiential diagnosis of nutrition disturbance could meet the requirement of spot diagnosis

of orange orchards, the time for deductive reasoning process was a little longer, and the deductive result was presented only by word description but lacks a typical image for reference. Some influence factors for mathematic formula needed to be altered every other year or when planting situation of orange was changed. The system needs further work to be more useful and practical. There is need to simplify the deductive reasoning process for users and input some typical images and timely data in the upgrading system.

Acknowledgements
This work was fund by the Major Science and Technology Program (2009ZX07102-004), China and the IPNI (International Plant Nutrition Institute) Program, Canada (2009ZX07102-004).

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