PMDG Content API - Product Overview

The Pest Management Decision Guide (PMDG) Content API and associated endpoints have been created to provide external customers with structured, secure access to CABI Plantwise PMDG (Plantwise Management Decision Guide) content, enabling filtering, discovery, and retrieval of high quality information.

The API is designed to support:

• Integration into third-party platforms and applications
• Reliable retrieval using validated naming conventions
• Scalable and secure access for commercial partner use

Base URL:https://data.cabi.org/pmdg

Authentication

All requests must include your unique API Key in the header.

Header: x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY

Note: Your data access (Countries, Crops, Pests, etc.) is automatically scoped based on this key. For example, if you have access only to United Kingdom (UK) data but you include the United States (US) in your request, the response will contain data only for the UK. Same logic applies to Crops and Pests.

GET /countries

Countries with Available PMDG Content

Business Purpose

This endpoint enables customers to understand where PMDG content exists, so partners can present valid country filters in their own applications and prevent users from selecting unsupported locations (Depending on what you have access to).

What this endpoint provides

• A complete list of countries where PMDG content is available
• Countries are returned using standard ISO2 country codes
• A stable, predictable dataset suitable for use as a picklist or filter control

Why this matters

• Ensures users only search for PMDGs in supported countries
• Supports consistent geographic filtering across platforms

Request

curl -X GET "{{BASE_URL}}/countries" \
     -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY"

Response Example

[
  {
    "isO2": "BD",
    "countryName": "Bangladesh"
  },
  {
    "isO2": "BF",
    "countryName": "Burkina Faso"
  },
  {
    "isO2": "BG",
    "countryName": "Bulgaria"
  }
]

POST /croppest

Available Crops and Pests by Country

Business Purpose

This endpoint allows customers to dynamically determine which crops and pests are relevant for one or more selected countries, ensuring that search filters always reflect valid combinations.

What this endpoint provides

• A list of available crops for the selected country or countries
• A list of available pests for the selected country or countries
• Results automatically adjust based on:
  • Selected countries
  • Any crop or pest already selected (in any order)

Why this matters

• Prevents users selecting invalid crop/pest combinations
• Improves search accuracy and reduces empty results

Key characteristics

• Accepts one or more ISO2 country codes
• Provides a CABT ID for each crop or pest term to ensure consistency and standardisation
• Performs efficiently even with multiple filters applied

Request Body

Example Request

curl -X POST "{{BASE_URL}}/croppest" \
     -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{
       "countries": ["BD"],
       "crops": [15395],
       "pests": [12331]
     }'

curl -X POST "{{BASE_URL}}/croppest" \
     -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{
       "countries": ["KE", "BD"], // Selects country Kenya and Bangladesh
       "crops": [], // Empty array selects ALL entitled crops
       "pests": []  // Empty array selects ALL entitled pests
     }'

POST /search

Filtered PMDG Search

Business Purpose

This endpoint enables customers to search and retrieve PMDG summaries based on geographic and biological relevance, supporting discovery, listing, and selection workflows.

What this endpoint provides

• A filtered list of PMDGs based on:
  • One or more countries (mandatory)
  • Crops (optional)
  • Pests (optional)
• For each PMDG, summary information including:
  • Title
  • Content type (PMDG)
  • Unique identifier (PAN)
  • Associated crops
  • Associated pests

Why this matters

• Enables users to discover relevant PMDGs before accessing full content
• Provides lightweight results suitable for paging and preview displays

Key characteristics

• Country selection is mandatory to ensure relevance
• Supports pagination to manage large result sets
• Supports customer-specific restrictions (e.g. limited countries or PMDG sets)

Request Body

Example Request

curl -X POST "{{BASE_URL}}/search" \
     -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{
       "countries": ["BD"],
       "crops": [15395, 29222, 32949, 115072],
       "pests": [12331, 66242, 77409, 99219],
       "page": 0,
       "rows": 20
     }'

curl -X POST "{{BASE_URL}}/search" \
     -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{
       "countries": ["BD"],
       "crops": [15395, 29222],
       "pests": [12331],
       "page": 1, // Requesting the 2nd page (0-indexed)
       "rows": 20
     }'

curl -X POST "{{BASE_URL}}/search" \
     -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{
       "countries": ["IN"],
       "crops": [], // Empty array selects ALL entitled crops for India
       "pests": [], // Empty array selects ALL entitled pests for India
       "page": 0,
       "rows": 50
     }'

curl -X POST "{{BASE_URL}}/search" \
     -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{
       "countries": [], // Search in ALL entitled countries
       "crops": [],     // Search in ALL entitled crops
       "pests": [66242], // Specific Pest ID only
       "page": 0,
       "rows": 100
     }'

POST /getpmdg

Retrieve Full PMDG by PAN

Business Purpose

This endpoint allows customers to retrieve the complete PMDG content for a specific guide, once it has been identified via search or other workflows.

What this endpoint provides

• Full PMDG content based on a unique PAN identifier
• Comprehensive data aligned with the Plantwise+ PMDG model
• A complete, structured representation suitable for display or downstream processing

Why this matters

• Enables direct access to authoritative guidance
• Supports detailed content views in customer applications
• Allows reuse of PMDG data in multiple delivery channels

Key characteristics

• Requires a valid PAN identifier
• Returns full PMDG detail in a consistent JSON structure

Request Body

Example Request

curl -X POST "{{BASE_URL}}/getpmdg" \
     -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{
       "pan": 20157801498
     }'

API Principles

All PMDG Content API endpoints share the following characteristics:

Security

Access is controlled via API keys, with protections against malicious queries.

Consistency

Responses use a consistent JSON structure across all endpoints.

Performance

Designed for efficient response times, even with multiple filters applied.

Reliability

Intended for production use by external partners and platforms.

Typical Customer Journey

1. Select country filters
2. Retrieve valid crops and pests for those countries
3. Search for PMDGs using selected filters
4. Retrieve full PMDG content using PAN

Error Codes

Appendix

CABI Thesaurus (CABT)

The CABI Thesaurus (CABT) is CABI’s authoritative source for indexing its data. It functions as a controlled vocabulary to ensure consistency across all CABI products. Each crop and pest is assigned a unique CABT identifier along with a preferred label, and this API provides access to those identifiers. More information about the CABI Thesaurus, including the ability to browse the full dataset, is available on the CABI Digital Library.