Prediction of Wheat Stripe Rust Based on Neural Networks

Stripe rust caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici, is a devastating wheat disease in the world. The prediction of this disease is very important to make control strategies. In order to figure out suitable prediction methods based on neural networks that could provide accurate prediction information with high stability, the predictions of wheat stripe rust by using backpropagation networks with different transfer functions, training functions and learning functions, radial basis networks, generalized regression networks (GRNNs) and probabilistic neural networks (PNNs) were conducted in this study. The results indicated that suitable backpropagation networks, radial basis networks and GRNNs could be used for the prediction of wheat stripe rust. Good fitting accuracy and prediction accuracy could be obtained by using backpropagation networks with trainlm, trainrp or trainbfg as training function. Radial basis networks had more power than backpropagation networks and GRNNs to predict wheat stripe rust. GRNNs were easier to be used than backpropagation networks. New methods based on neural networks were provided for the prediction of wheat stripe rust.