Diagnosis of herbicide injury can be complex because of the large number and interaction of factors leading to herbicide injury. Computer-based expert systems have great potential to assist users, particularly nonexperts, in accurate diagnosis of herbicide injury. Rule-based and case-based reasoning are the most widely used forms of expert systems, and each system has strengths and limitations. Approaches that integrate rule-based and case-based reasoning may augment the positive aspects of the two reasoning methods and simultaneously minimize their negative aspects. The Herbicide Injury Diagnostic Expert System (HIDES) integrates rule-based and case-based reasoning and uses field-specific information, injury symptoms, herbicide use history, and herbicide information to diagnose crop injury from herbicides. The HIDES program uses a set of rules to identify suspect herbicide(s) that is the candidate for causing the observed injury and possible sources of the suspect herbicide(s). Case-based reasoning is used to propose a probable cause of injury by making an analogy to previously solved cases. A four-step procedure is followed when using HIDES: information collection, suspect herbicide identification, suspect herbicide source determination, injury reason suggestion, and knowledge accumulation.

Additional index words: Case-based reasoning, knowledge-base, rule-based reasoning.

Abbreviation: HIDES, herbicide injury diagnostic expert system.