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Buntata mobile app profiled in first issue of Global Potato News

Buntata screenshots (c) James Hutton Institute
"Buntata is an excellent example of our group’s ability to develop really creative and useful apps, suited to the practical requirements of scientists, industry, farmers and growers"

Hutton Android app Buntata has been featured in the first issue of Global Potato News, a newly launched international business-to-business magazine serving the entire potato industry from farm to fork.

Originally unveiled in 2017 and named after the Gaelic word for potato, Buntata allows for easy identification of potato pests and diseases and suggests further resources for growers to consult if they want to confirm the diagnosis.

Buntata is now the most popular Hutton app on the Android platform and has been further strengthened by a web version that can be used on practically any device.

Sebastian Raubach, part of the Hutton bioinformatics software development team behind Buntata, said: “We’re very happy to feature in the first issue of Global Potato News. It’s a great opportunity to reach a wider audience and help identify pests and diseases.”

The app is a joint development of the Institute’s Information and Computational Sciences (ICS) and the Cell and Molecular Sciences (CMS) groups.

ICS brings together a wide range of skills and expertise, ranging from genome-scale bioinformatics to the modelling of edaphic or climate information on a geographic scale. Likewise, CMS comprises more than 100 plant scientists with research specialisms in cell and molecular biology, genomics, genetics, pathology and physiology.

Dr Rupert Hough, leader of the ICS group, commented: “We are delighted with Buntata’s growing popularity. It is an excellent example of our group’s ability to develop really creative and useful apps, suited to the practical requirements of scientists, industry, farmers and growers.”

Buntata can be downloaded from the ICS website and the first issue of Global Potato News is available on their website, as is the feature about Buntata.

Besides Sebastian Raubach, the Buntata team is formed by Paul Shaw (ICS bioinformatician) and Lesley Torrance (Director of Science). The team would also like to thank John Jones, Ian Toth, Jennie Brierley, Alison Lees, Graham Cowan, Sonia Humphris and Roy Neilson for their help in getting the underlying potato dataset and images brought together and assembled, as well as Danny Coyne and Sue Hockland for providing images and information.

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Printed from /news/buntata-mobile-app-profiled-first-issue-global-potato-news on 29/03/24 08:07:21 AM

The James Hutton Research Institute is the result of the merger in April 2011 of MLURI and SCRI. This merger formed a new powerhouse for research into food, land use, and climate change.