Printing:

Seedling

Barnyard grass

Juvenile

Barnyard grass

Mature

Barnyard grass

We would like to acknowledge the training and advice received from the

Barbara Sharanowski lab at the University of Central Florida and much

behind-the-scenes support from Tactica Interactive and the U of MB Plant

Science greenhouse and office staff.

Thanks to everyone who brought in weeds to identify or helped test the

grass key; to Jordan Bannerman who assisted with photography training,

and to Aldo Rios, who illustrated key characters and lent moral and

photographic support. Illustrations were supported by the University of

Manitoba Faculty of Agriculture Endowment Fund.

Special thanks all of our beta-testers and to the Mobile-IPM team, especially

Ana Dal Molin, for her continued input and guidance.

• Interactive, polyclave (multiple-entry) keys were developed using

Lucid Builder 3.3, exported using the open Structured Descriptive

Data (SDD 1.1) standard and made public through a customized

application interface.

• The species included were based on regional crop weed lists.

• Research was conducted on taxonomic descriptions of each weed.

• Species were grown from seed or observed in the field and

photographed at each life stage.

• A fact sheet was prepared for each species that lists all

characteristics and includes photos of all life stages

A new tool for grass and broadleaf identification on cropland in Western CanadaJo-Anne Joyce, Doug Cattani, Rob Gulden| Dept. of Plant Science| University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2 Email: Jo-Anne.Joyce@umanitoba.ca

Grass and broadleaf identification keys are being developed as part of a free mobile application (Mobile-IPM) by the University of Manitoba.

Mobile-IPM is designed to help Canadian farmers identify pests, and implement effective integrated pest management strategies. Components include:

This poster focuses on the

Weed identification tool.

The Weed ID tool consists of 2 keys:

-Grassy weeds (grasses, sedges and rushes) – available online and to be tested in real time, using your cell phone

-Broadleaf weeds – in development

Mobile-IPM’s weed ID tool will allow users to :

-Identify the 200 most common weeds of cropland in Western Canada (MB, SK and AB)

-Use a mobile phone to identify a weed while in the field, or with a sample in hand.

-Identify weeds at any life stage (seedling, juvenile, maturity)

An interactive identification tool for crop pests

(insects, weeds & disease)

A real-time pest monitoring and forecasting tool

A crop management tool

Methods

Weed ID Beta-test Procedure

Acknowledgements

Project Overview

Weedy Grasses of Cropland in Western Canada is available for beta-

testing at: https://ipm-devl.ad.umanitoba.ca/identify.

Live plant material is available to identify during the poster viewing so you may test the

Weed ID tool using your phone.

Start by loading the

app via SQ or URL.

Choose ‘Pest

Identification

Pest identification

What’s an auricle?

Click on the Help

button (?) for a

definition.

Next, choose a part of

the plant to focus on. In

this example, we’ve

chosen ‘Base of Leaf’.

This is a good set of

characters to start with

when identifying

grasses.

Choose ‘Weedy

Grasses of Cropland

in Western Canada’

The more features you

identify, the more precise

the results become.

Notice the number of

options in the top right-

hand corner has

decreased. Click on that

number to access species

matches.

Your plant lacks auricles

and ligules, the stem is

smooth and compressed.

Your grass doesn’t

appear to have

auricles, but you

check the options

anyway. You check the

illustrations, and

reaffirm that your

plant lacks

auricles. You

choose ‘Auricles

absent’.

Notice the number

at the top right

corner of the

screen. It

indicates the total

number of species

in the key.

Your plant is probably

Barnyard grass. Check the

photo, and click on

‘Details’ to make sure all

the characters fit.

If the result is not a good

fit for your plant, you may

check other close

matches, submit a photo,

or press the ‘Feedback’

button to send an email to

the first author.