DECISION-SUPPORT SOFTWARE FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF RUSSIAN WHEAT APHID ECONOMIC INJURY LEVELS AND THRESHOLDS

The need for developing decision support software that calculates economic injury levels, economic thresholds, and crop yield losses for given pest infestations is discussed in this paper. However, the design of such software should be carefully considered so that producers and agriculture industry personnel will find it easy to install, learn, and use. The decision support software program WHEAT APHID! is discussed at length concerning its design characteristics and features, and how it should be delivered to the public. A survey of registered users was conducted to determine if WHEAT APHID! performed according to design specifications, was useful in making management decisions, and was being shared by registered users.