Mobile app helps discern rice plants pests

A new mobile app, which can recognize rice plant pests, will soon be available for download after having passed rigorous tests, app developers in the eastern province of Anhui said Wednesday.

The app, co-developed by the Anhui Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the Institute of Intelligent Machines of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, can recognize more than 50 species of rice plant pests with a recognition rate exceeding 80 percent.

Users can download the app on their mobile phones and identify the pests through a database by taking photos of insects and uploading the images.

"We've been building the database since 2000, which now has more than 800,000 photos of pests collected by the Anhui Academy of Agricultural Sciences," said Zhang Liping, an official with the academy.

After identifying the pests, the app can provide suggestions and guidelines for which pesticide to use.

The test version of the app is now available for agricultural and scientific departments, and rice plant research institutes in the province.

"The system works well right now, and we will soon launch new versions for the iOS and Android app stores," Zhang said.