A practical plant diagnosis system for field leaf images and feature visualization

Abstract

An accurate, fast and low-cost automated plant diagnosis system has been called for. While several studies utilizing machine learning techniques have been conducted, significant issues remain in most cases where the dataset is not composed of field images and often includes a substantial number of inappropriate labels. In this paper, we propose a practical automated plant diagnosis system. We first build a highly reliable dataset by cultivating plants in a strictly controlled setting. We then develop a robust classifier capable of analyzing a wide variety of field images. We use a total of 9,000 original cucumber field leaf images to identify seven typical viral diseases, Downy mildew and healthy plants including initial symptoms. We also visualize the key regions of diagnostic evidence. Our system attains 93.6% average accuracy, and we confirm that our system captures important features for the diagnosis of Downy mildew.