An ontology-based approach to integration of hilly citrus production knowledge

Citrus planting is subject to a variety of complex factors, such as terrain and growth-stage. There are a few differences between citrus planting on hills and in other places. In this paper, we focus on the integration of hilly citrus production knowledge. We organize and convert the citrus production knowledge in the forms of texts, tables and pictures in technical reports and books into a hilly citrus fertilization and irrigation ontology. Three citrus decision services (fertilization, nutrient imbalance, and irrigation/drainage) are developed for fruit farmers in Chongqing, China, based on the ontology. We compare the system results and the reference values recommended by citrus experts to ensure that our system can provide correct and helpful advice for growers. The results of the fertilization service are completely consistent with the experts' expectations. The nutrient imbalance service meets growers' requests with a 98% accuracy, and the irrigation/drainage service can achieve 94% accuracy. Our work can also be further connected with other agricultural ontologies and integrated to be subclasses of AOS ontology. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.