1Associate Professor (Ag. Extension), Central Training Institute, Kerala Agricultural University, Mannuthy-680651, Thrissur, Dt. Kerala state, South India. E mail: helenskau@gmail.com, Mobile: 9446142552
2Professor and Head (Retd.), Dept. of Ag. Extension, College of Horticulture, Kerala Agricultural University, Vellanikkara, P.O. Thrissur, Dt. Kerala state, South India. E mail: fmhkaleel@yahoo.com, Mobile: 9446940433
3Comptroller, Kerala Agricultural University, Vellanikkara, P.O. Thrissur, Dt. Kerala state, South India. E mail: joymathew12@rediffmail.com, Mobile: 9847819119
Online published on 29 March, 2016.
This research paper focuses on the knowledge gained by extension personnel from the agricultural expert system, ‘Diagnos-4’ developed by Kerala Agricultural University. Extension personnel from Palakkad District of Kerala state, South India formed the respondents of the study. They were subjected to knowledge test on the plant protection technologies of rice, coconut and banana as pre and post exposure sessions on agricultural expert system, ‘Diagnos-4’. During the pre exposure assessment, it was found that extension personnel possessed low level of knowledge on the plant protection technologies of crops and they needed knowledge on the latest technologies of plant protection of various crops. Majority of the respondents agreed that they experienced confusion in identifying symptoms, in recommending a particular input, calculation of appropriate dosages of inputs and use of combination of inputs. Knowledge gain was the appreciable component that showed a wide difference between the groups exposed to agricultural expert system alone and those who were exposed to agricultural expert system guided by human expert. Majority of the respondents were newly exposed to the applications of agricultural expert system and hence they found difficulty in locating the required information at ease. Therefore it is suggested that by providing hands on experience through training programmes, the extension personnel would become accustom in using it and derive knowledge out of it. There is a lot of scope for the application of agricultural expert system among extension personnel especially on the plant protection technologies of various crops that help the users to clarify their doubts, confirm their knowledge and provide real time information to the technology users. It is necessary to release and make the copies of the agricultural expert system available among the extension personnel after a comprehensive orientation in using the agricultural expert system to gain maximum utility of Agricultural Expert System in the absence of human experts.
