MONITORING COCOA BLACK POD DISEASE INCIDENCE WITH EXCEL TOOL
Authors: Ling, A. S. C.
Journal Issue: Malaysian Cocoa Journal, Volume 14/2022
Keywords: Cocoa, cocoa black pod disease, decision making, excel, pivot table
Published On: 10/05/2022
Abstract
This paper is to share knowledge on how to utilise the Pivot Table in Microsoft Excel in monitoring the cocoa black pod disease (CBPD) incidence and managing the disease. The cocoa black pod disease was one of the major disease in cocoa planting around the world and caused major losses to the growers. Although cocoa growers have taught to manage the CBPD problem with integrated disease management involved culture practices and chemical, they need a proper monitoring system to guide them when is the right time to take actions especially on chemical. Introducing the data-based monitoring on every individual trees per unit area for the CBPD using Pivot Table will solve their problem. A pivot table is an interactive table that allows user to sort and display data based on filters without changing the source data as display and source data are separate. In this study, a Pivot Table was applied on sub-plot 1 approximated to 1 hectare planted with mix clones located in the Cocoa Research and Development Center (CRDC) Kota Samarahan to monitor the CBPD incidence. The CBPD incidence data was collected weekly while the weather data was collected hourly, then summarised using the Pivot Table to give useful information for growers to make decision in controlling the CBPD. The plot maps relative to the CBPD incidence were also being suggested to the cocoa growers to understand the performance of individual cocoa trees against the CBPD in long term.