Multi-model machine learning for automated identification of rice diseases using leaf image data

Abstract

Rice, a staple meal for about half of the world’s population, is critical to global food security, especially in Asia. However, diseases have a severe impact on rice production, resulting in significant yield losses or outright crop failure. Traditional techniques of identifying rice diseases are time-consuming, labor-intensive, and rely heavily on specialist knowledge. As a result, a rapid, cost-effective, and automated method for detecting rice illnesses is critical for modernizing agricultural techniques and ensuring sustainable food production. This paper presents a novel hybrid deep-learning and machine-learning framework for automatically identifying rice plant diseases from leaf photos. We extracted deep features from rice leaf images using pre-trained CNN models—MobileNetV2, Dark-Net19, and ResNet18. These features are then classified using machine learning classifiers with various kernel functions, which apply a strong 10-fold cross-validation technique to assure model reliability. Using a medium Gaussian kernel of the SVM classifier, the proposed system achieved a classification accuracy of 98.61%, specificity of 98.85%, and sensitivity of 97.25%. The framework is computationally efficient and scalable, allowing for greater dataset testing. The proposed technique provides a dependable and efficient solution for accurate identification of rice leaf diseases, reducing farmers’ reliance on manual inspection and supporting timely intervention.