Application of the Watershed Segmentation Method in the Separation and Identification of Individual Leaves in Potato Crops

Abstract

This research aims to find and to identify early symptoms of the presence of pests in potato plants crops through the application of techniques and algorithms of artificial vision and classification of their characteristics. For this, the Watershed algorithm is used in order to segment and to identify the largest number of possible individual leaves present in a conventional agricultural field and then, to make a classification using a neural network to determine, by means of the characteristics of the morphological structure, the leaves that have any type of noticeable infection for their early and efficiently control. This Process is developed by using technological tools such as the implementation of an unmanned aircraft that would allow large aerial video shots, helping producers to reduce time and money; and to improve the quality of the food by containing less amount of chemicals that are harmful to the people’s health.