An expert data base system concerning physical condition of land for the selecton of suitable crops was developed in this study. All the data of this system were managed by a data base management system (DBMS, KIRI) for personal computers. This system consists of three different types of data bases (descriptive character type and categorical type, estimation type).
There were four kinds of data bases (soil condition, climatic condition, geological and geomorphological condition and list of bibliography) in the descriptive character type. It was clarified that an OCR (optical character reader) was a useful tool for inputing the Japanese or English characters. In the categorical type, soil codition and crop data bases were constructed. The estimation type data bases of nineteen crops at S town in the Iwate prefecture were also developed.

View full abstract

The availability of bar-code to the management of the horticulture under structure, was examined. The recognition accuracy of various types of bar-codes was tested by a pen type bar-code reader connected with a personal computer.
Three types of bar code [JAN, CODE39, CODE39(CC)] were discriminated accurately with the pen type bar-code reader. Bar-code of three digits was recognized faster than that of 13 digits. In the speed of bar code recognition, there was no difference between the case of the form itself, and the case of the form covered with a plastic sheet.
A page printer printed out bar-codes more accurately than a dot printer. Therefore, the page printer was always necessary for the bar code printing.
Referring to an application software, in which bar-codes play an active part, a relational data base may be preferable for the examination. In this study “KIRI Ver.4” was employed as the basic data base application from the operational point of view.
Three application systems were constructed in order to test the availability of the bar-code.
The bar-code was used in a crop production control system to input data on crop culture workings and the values of pH and EC of soil, in a shipment control system to print labels for shipment and to arrange invoice forms, and in a direct sales control system to sum up sales and to arrange remaining stock.
In order to make use of bar-code effectively, following steps of procedure should be taken care of; (1) making a bar code ledger, (2) reading data from the ledger by a bar-code reader, (3) inputting some additional information, if necessary, (4) analyzing accumulated data, and (5) reviewing management strategy.

View full abstract