New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research abstracts
An application of the analytic hierarchy process and fuzzy logic inference in a decision support system for forage selection
Sun Juan1,2
Chen Quangong3,*
Long Ruijun4,1
Jiang Wenlan1
1College of Grassland Science of Gansu Agricultural University,
Gansu, Lanzhou City
730070, PR China
2Animal Science College of South-west Agricultural University,
Chongqing City,
400716, PR China
3College of Pastoral Agricultural Science and Technology of
Lanzhou University,
Lanzhou City 730020, PR of China
4Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Xining City, 810008, PR of China
*Author for correspondence. Email: chenqg@lzu.edu.cn
Abstract Forage selection plays a prominent role in the process of returning cultivated lands back into grasslands. The conventional method of selecting forage species can only provide attempts for problem-solving without considering the relationships among the decision factors globally. Therefore, this study is dedicated to developing a decision support system to help farmers correctly select suitable forage species for the target sites. After collecting data through a field study, we developed this decision support system. It consists of three steps: (1) the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), (2) weights determination, and (3) decision making. In the first step, six factors influencing forage growth were selected by reviewing the related references and by interviewing experts. Then a fuzzy matrix was devised to determine the weight of each factor in the second step. Finally, a gradual alternative decision support system was created to help farmers choose suitable forage species for their lands in the third step. The results showed that the AHP and fuzzy logic are useful for forage selection decision making, and the proposed system can provide accurate results in a certain area (Gansu Province) of China.
Keywords forage selection; decision support system; analytic hierarchy process; fuzzy logic
A03057; Received 13 October 2003; accepted 7 March 2004; Online publication date 17 August 2004
New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research, 2004, Vol. 47: 327-331
0028-8233/04/4703-0327 © The Royal Society of New Zealand 2004
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