A new smartphone app designed to help potato growers identify plant pests and diseases in the field has been created by scientists in Dundee.

Buntata, which is the Gaelic word for potato, uses downloadable data sets to help diagnose the problem and can be used without mobile coverage.

It was developed by the James Hutton Institute to help smallholder potato farmers in Africa maintain their crops.

Professor Lesley Torrance said: "Buntata is a collaborative effort between the University of St Andrews and the James Hutton Institute to enable open access to our information resources and put them at the fingertips of potato growers.

"There is no need to have prior knowledge of the pest, disease or other disorder as the app is designed to allow the farmer to match the symptoms of their potato plant or pest to symptoms in the database and it is mobile enough to be deployed in the field.

"Although developed for potato, the Buntata format can be applied to other crops."