Universal Journal of Agricultural Research Vol. 13(5), pp. 68 - 80
DOI: 10.13189/ujar.2025.130502
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Development of a Certainty Factor–Based Mobile Expert System for Palm Tree Pest and Disease Classification

Wedad M. Alawad ^1,*, Amal Alharbi ¹, Shouq Alanazi ¹, Tahani Almotairy ¹, Abeer I. Alhujaylan ¹, Khalid E. Hamed ^2
1 Department of Information Technology, College of Computer, Qassim University, Buraydah 51921, Saudi Arabia
² Department of Plant Protection, College of Agriculture and Food, Qassim University, Buraydah 51452, Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT

Palm trees are economically and culturally significant in many regions, yet they remain vulnerable to a variety of pests and diseases that can cause substantial agricultural losses. This study presents the design and implementation of a mobile-based expert system, PalmExp, which assists farmers and agricultural technicians in identifying six common palm tree pests and diseases using the Certainty Factor (CF) method. The system is built on a knowledge base developed in collaboration with an agricultural expert, incorporating rules that represent symptoms and their associated diseases or pests. The CF model enables the system to handle uncertainty and partial symptom presence, providing a ranked diagnosis with confidence levels. PalmExp is compatible with both Android and iOS platforms and supports bilingual use, making it accessible to a wide range of users, including farmers with limited technical expertise in the Middle East and North Africa regions. Evaluation results show that the system achieved a 95% diagnostic accuracy compared to expert assessments. The evaluation confirmed the accuracy and consistency of the system's diagnostic outputs, supporting its use as a practical expert tool in real-world agricultural environments. This study presents a full implementation and validation of the system, contributing an original research framework for mobile plant disease diagnostics.

KEYWORDS
Knowledge-Based System, Expert System, Computer-Assisted Diagnosis, Palm Trees, Pests and Diseases, Certainty Factor, Mobile Application, Agricultural Decision Support

Cite This Paper in IEEE or APA Citation Styles
(a). IEEE Format:
[1] Wedad M. Alawad , Amal Alharbi , Shouq Alanazi , Tahani Almotairy , Abeer I. Alhujaylan , Khalid E. Hamed , "Development of a Certainty Factor–Based Mobile Expert System for Palm Tree Pest and Disease Classification," Universal Journal of Agricultural Research, Vol. 13, No. 5, pp. 68 - 80, 2025. DOI: 10.13189/ujar.2025.130502.

(b). APA Format:
Wedad M. Alawad , Amal Alharbi , Shouq Alanazi , Tahani Almotairy , Abeer I. Alhujaylan , Khalid E. Hamed (2025). Development of a Certainty Factor–Based Mobile Expert System for Palm Tree Pest and Disease Classification. Universal Journal of Agricultural Research, 13(5), 68 - 80. DOI: 10.13189/ujar.2025.130502.