Plant disease sensing using image processing (with CNN)

Abstract

Plant disease is a significant challenge for agriculture, leading to reduced yield, economic loss, and environmental impact. Leveraging digital photos of plant leaves, convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have emerged as promising tools for disease detection. The methodology involves several steps, including image pre-processing, segmentation, feature extraction using CNNs. Crucially, a diverse dataset comprising images of both healthy and diseased leaves under varying conditions is necessary for training accurate models. Transfer learning, particularly with pre-trained models like ImageNet, can further enhance accuracy, allowing for better performance with fewer training samples. The proposed method demonstrates impressive results, achieving over 95% accuracy, outperforming existing state-of-the-art techniques. This system could serve as a valuable tool for farmers, facilitating timely disease identification and treatment, ultimately leading to increased agricultural yields, reduced financial losses, and the adoption of more sustainable farming practices. Additionally, beyond its practical applications, the proposed system holds promise for advancing sustainable agriculture by promoting environmentally friendly farming methods and contributing to the overall resilience and productivity of agricultural systems.