Plantwise Knowledge bank, an open access website and app providing information on pest management

The Plantwise Knowledge bank developed by CABI is an online and offline platform and app on plant health information and services. The website provides three different tools: search tool to identify pest problems, a search tool to find factsheets on pest problems, a map of pest distribution and a customized alert on pest news.

The "Identify a Pest Problem" search tool invites you to select your location by country or region, then select a crop, and finally select the plant part affected. The results page shows the user a photo of the pest problem on one side and the symptoms on the other side. If you click on the symptoms the search tool sorts the pest problems for you. If you click on the pest problem, the platform will show a map of the pest distribution, the species affected, a list of symptoms, the prevention strategies, and the impact of the pest problem on the different species.

The "Find a Factsheet" tool is a search option in which you can find factsheet articles on pest problems. Once you enter your search words, the search engine will show the results sorted by factsheets and photosheets, pictures, maps and news. The Plantwise Factsheets Library is also an app available on Google Play with a search option of plant pest problem by country, crop and pest problem. Within the “Find a Factsheet” tool, you can use the booklet builder to create your own booklet of factsheets by searching by crop or pest, or by country. Once you have selected the factsheets you can download the booklet including a contents page: http://www.plantwise.org/KnowledgeBank/FactsheetBooklet.aspx

The third tool is the Pest Distribution Map with two simple search options: by country and by crop. On the map, you can add up to 3 species including crop, pest or disease and natural enemies. If you click on the "Zoom to Points" option, the map will unzoom and show you all the areas in which the crop-related pest problem is present, with information on coordinates, references, climate zone, land use and soil type.

Finally, the pest alert lets you sign up by entering your details and contact information in order to receive email alerts containing recent literature reports for a specific country or region, or recent literature reports from around the globe.

Check out the Online Knowledge Bank here

Read the CABI general information on the Plantwise Knowledge Bank