2010 Fourth Asia International Conference on Mathematical/Analytical Modelling and Computer Simulation
Classification of Rubber Tree Leaf Disease Using Spectrometer
Hashim, H.; Haron, M.A.; Osman, F.N; Al Junid, S.A.M.
Faculty of Electrical Engineering
University Technology MARA (UiTM)
40450 Shah Alam
e-mail: hadzli120@salam.uitm.edu.my
Abstract— In this paper, the classification of five types of
rubber leaf disease by using the spectrometer and SPSS are
presented. There are five of leaf disease that have been used as
samples which are Oidium secondary leaf fall, Fusicoccum
Leaf Blight, Bird eye’s spot and Anthracnose. The reflectance
of the infected leaves sample is measured by using MCS600
Carl Zeiss spectrometer. Besides, Aspect Plus, a universal
spectroscopy program from Zeiss manages to measure the
spectral regions of the leaves sample. Further analysis and
justification are completed by using approximate statistical
tools from SPSS. The results obtained show that there are
strong evidences that these diseases can be discriminated from
each other using a spectrometer.
Keywords-component; SPSS,spectrometer, oidium secondary
leaf fall, fusicoccum leaf blight, bird eye’s spot, anthracnose
I. INTRODUCTION
Malaysia produces almost 20% of the world’s natural
rubber. Rubber is also grown in Sabah (formerly known as
North Borneo) and Sarawak which known together as East
Malaysia besides peninsular Malaysia. In total, Malaysia has
1.7 million hectares of land that growing rubber tree.
There are several disease of the rubber tree such as root,
panel, stem, branch and leaf disease. To maintain the quality
of latex, the diseases need to be identified. Hence, some
actions are taken to ensure the disease or infection do not
widen to all over the estate.
Basically, humans can detect very small changes from
the naked eyes better than machine. However, error and
inaccuracy in observation would occur when the human have
to evaluate too many rubber leaf disease and when human
are exhausted. Indeed, this will results in inconsistency of
decision making and identification of the disease. Here we
can conclude that human’s character is different from
machines. To solve these drawback, new technology is
needed that can guarantee execution of work to be consistent,
rapid and efficient.
Therefore, in this research, a technique is proposed to
identify and classify five types of rubber leaf disease namely
Oidium secondary leaf fall, Fusicoccum Leaf Blight, Bird
eye’s spot and Anthracnose. These diseases are commonly
found affecting some of the rubber tree in Malaysia and give
serious injury if not properly handle.
978-0-7695-4062-7/10 $26.00 © 2010 IEEE 302
DOI 10.1109/AMS.2010.67
A. The spectrometer
A spectrometer (spectrophotometer, spectrograph or
spectroscope) is an instrument used to measure properties of
light over a specific portion of the electromagnetic spectrum,
typically used in spectroscopic analysis to identify materials.
The variable measured is most often light’s intensity but
could also for instance be the polarization state. The
independent variable is usually the wavelength of the light or
a unit directly proportional to the photon energy, such as
wave number or electron volts, which has reciprocal
relationship to wavelength. A spectrometer is used in
spectroscopy for producing spectral lines and measuring
their wavelengths and intensities. Spectrometer is a term that
applied to instrument operates over a very wide range of
wavelengths, from gamma rays and X-rays into the far
infrared. If the region of interest is restricted and related to
visible spectrum, the study is call spectrophotometry.
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
Recently, several researchers from Malaysia are
vigorously involved into this area of research to find better
findings and results. For example, Asymawi Ayob has
developed a method to classify two types of rubber leaf
disease namely bird’s eyes spot and corynespora by using
image processing and ANN model [1]. From the result, all
three features which are area, perimeter and number of white
spots as inputs to provide the best classifications rate that is
above 90% with 3 neurons in the hidden layer. Those three
values are proven and suitable as feature to classify the two
types of rubber leaf disease.
Furthermore, Noor Ezan has proposed classification of
three types of rubber tree leaf disease through automation
and utilizing primary RGB colour model [2]. The identified
regions of interest (ROI) of these disease images are then
processed to quantity the normalized indices from the RGB
colour distribution. The feature extraction phase in this work
has two methods which are based only on the dominant pixel
RGB (mean) and applying principle component analysis
(PCA) on the pixel gradation values of each image. The
optimized ANN model was then evaluated and validated
through analysis of the performance indicators. Findings in
this work have shown the both models have produced about
70% in diagnostic accuracy with more than 80%
achievement for sensitivity[3][4].
 Subsequently, Azmil Rizal presented his research output Figure 1 shows the flowchart of methodology in
that diagnosed three types of rubber tree leaf diseases using completing this project. Literature review of previous final
image processing and Back Propagation Neural Network but year project by others that related is studied in order to make
using different feature extraction where the infected area is sure that the objectives can be archived. There are five types
cropped and the RGB of the cropped area is determined as of rubber leaf disease have been selected for analysis. These
features and inputs to ANN [5][6]. The accuracy of the five diseases are Oidium secondary leaf fall, Colletotrichum
powdery mildew and bird’s eye spot is low but corynespora secondary leaf fall, Corynespora Leaf Fall, Fusicoccum Leaf
disease can be recognized accurately using Lavenberg- Blight, Bird eye’s spot and Anthracnose.
Marquardt back propagation method. The result obtained
A. Rubber Leaf Samples
that using 17 neurons in hidden layer the accuracy of
corynespora 100%, powdery mildew 39% and bird’s eye The infected rubber leaf samples are collected from the
spot 25%. Rubber Research Institute of Malaysia (RRIM) in Sungai
Therefore, in this work, the technique used to classify Buloh. The disease classification was done with assists by a
the five categories of rubber leaf diseases is proposed using senior worker of Lembaga Getah Malaysia (LGM).
light reflectance value instead of RGB values. This B. Reflectance Measurement
technique was chosen because it has direct perception of
light reflectance compared to previous techniques. The
lighting is controlled and has no influence from external
lighting. The data will be reliable and accurate information.
III. METHODOLOGY
In this section the method proposed will be discussed.
The process of determining the rubber leaf disease can be
simplified as in Figure 1 as below.

Start
Figure 2. MCS600 spectrometer

Literature Review

Collect the leaves sample

Separate sample

Figure 3. OFK30 measuring head

Start analysis
The reflectance measurement was ended by using a
spectrometer. The MCS600 is a spectrometer manufactured
Reflectance measurement by Carl Zeiss that innovate with the finest photodiode array
technology covering the spectral range from 190 to 2200nm.
The OFK30 measuring head used for measuring the
reflectance of the samples
Data conversion

Analyze using SPSS

End

Figure 1. Methodology flowchart

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 The Figure 5 shows an example of overlay reflectance
plot of five different disease of sample. This plot generated
by Aspect Plus program. The green spectral region is
between 495 nm and 570 nm. From all of data that have been
analyzed between these regions, all samples are having the
same maximum reflectance at the same wavelength that is
552.963nm. The maximum or peak values of samples are
then used in the SPSS for statistical data analysis.
B. Error plots
The data have been analyzed by using error plot as
shown in Figure 6. The error plot shows the maximum
reflectance of visible light with regards to the five types of
leaf disease.

Figure 4. Reflectance of sample using Aspect Plus

Figure 4 shows example of reflectance of sample taken

from the spectrometer. The spectrometer use Aspect Plus
software, a universal spectroscopy program from Carl Zeiss.
C. Data Conversion
The reflectance data in .DAT file from the Aspect Plus
software was converted into ASCII code files. These files
then were saved in the Microsoft Excel. Hence, the data can
be used to be analyzed in the SPSS software.
D. Analyze using SPSS
The analysis tools from SPSS are used to compare the
means using the one way ANOVA. Then, the graph tools
are used to plot the error bar of the samples Figure 6. The error bar plot

IV. RESULT AND DISCUSSION From observation, all disease are significantly different
with each other where Anova is found to be 0.000. Each
A. Reflectance Plot
disease produce different range of peak value which means
%R
OVER2 Carl Zeiss / Aspect Plus V1.76 the reflectance of light from the leaf samples is different
among each other.
C. Anova Test
250.00
From the observation, assumptions can be made from
the error plot but in order to prove the data analysis, an
Anova test must be equipped. The One-Way ANOVA
150.00
compares the mean of one or more groups based on
independent variable (or factor).

50.00 ‫ܪ‬௢ = There are no significant differences in peak between

the leaf samples’ mean
450.00 550.00 650.00 750.00
nm
ANTHRACNOSE1.DAT
BIRD'S EYE SPOT1.DAT
Sample
Sample
values,
values,
Device:
Device:
Sep.17.2009/12:28AM
Sep.16.2009/11:18PM
‫ܪ‬ଵ = There is significant differences in peak the leaf
COLLETOTRICHUM3.DAT
FUSICOCCUM1.DAT
Sample
Sample
values,
values,
Device:
Device:
Sep.16.2009/05:48PM
Sep.16.2009/06:54PM samples’ mean
OIDIUM1.DAT Sample values, Device: Sep.16.2009/05:13PM

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Figure 5. Overlay plot for five types of sample

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 TABLE I. ANOVA TABLE FOR PEAK VALUE

-7.16158* 1.09887 .000

Sum of Colletotrichum Anthracnose
Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
Bird's eye spot -33.48297* 1.09887 .000
Between
50174.542 4 12543.636 519.402 .000 Fusicoccum 6.17971* 1.09887 .000
Groups
Oidium -29.25396* 1.09887 .000
Within
4709.280 195 24.150 *. The mean difference is significant at the 0.05 level.
Groups

Total 54883.823 199
The Anova Table 1 shows there is a significant
difference in peak between the types of disease, the null (‫ܪ‬௢ )
hypothesis can be rejected and the alternative ( ‫ܪ‬ଵ )
hypothesis is accepted since p-value < 0.05.
In addition, table 2 shows the comparison between all
the diseases with each other in terms of mean and
significant values. The results shows that the entire mean
significant are below than 0.05 means that all evidence is
proved to assume all the diseases are significantly different
with each other.

TABLE II. MULTIPLE COMPARISON V. CONCLUSION

The five types of leaf disease Oidium secondary leaf fall,
Mean Colletotrichum secondary leaf fall, Corynespora Leaf Fall,
Fusicoccum Leaf Blight, Bird eye’s spot and Anthracnose
Difference
are being tested in order to observe the differences among
(I) disease (J) disease (I-J) Std. Error Sig. the disease in terms of reflectance. The samples of the above
disease are analyzed using a Carl Zeiss MCS600
Anthracnose Bird's eye spot -26.32139* 1.09887 .000 spectrometer to measure the reflectance. The data taken
from the samples are tested with statistical error plots and
Fusicoccum 13.34129* 1.09887 .000
Anova test. From the error plots observations, the range of
Oidium -22.09239* 1.09887 .000
peak value for the type of disease are differ from each other.
The results are reinforced by the measured p-values using
Colletotrichum 7.16158* 1.09887 .000 Anova test where there is strong evidence to conclude that
the different types of disease will produce different
Bird's eye spot Anthracnose 26.32139* 1.09887 .000 variations of peak value at the same wavelength. Since all
the p-values are below 0.05, means that the peak value
Fusicoccum 39.66268* 1.09887 .000 between the diseases are are significantly different. Lastly,
the analysis shows that 552.963nm is the appropriate
Oidium 4.22900* 1.09887 .000
wavelength to be use as the reference to develop a complete
Colletotrichum 33.48297* 1.09887 .000 reflectance sensor system. The data in Table 3 shows that
the mean and reflectance range that can be utilized as a
Fusicoccum Anthracnose -13.34129* 1.09887 .000 reference in the future sensor development.

Bird's eye spot -39.66268* 1.09887 .000

Oidium -35.43367* 1.09887 .000

Colletotrichum -6.17971* 1.09887 .000

Oidium Anthracnose 22.09239* 1.09887 .000

Bird's eye spot -4.22900* 1.09887 .000

Fusicoccum 35.43367* 1.09887 .000

Colletotrichum 29.25396* 1.09887 .000

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 TABLE III. STATISTIC FOR REFLECTANCE VIII. REFERENCE
[1] Asymawi Ayob, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nooritawati Md. Tahir, Assoc. Prof.
disease Mean N Maximum Minimum Rosni Kasim, “Rubber Leaf Disease Classification Based on Image
Processing Technique and Artificial Neural Network”. Thesis of the
Anthracnose 65.0987 40 72.83 60.10 Bachelor of Electrical Engineering (Hons). Universiti Teknologi
MARA.
Bird’s eye spot 91.4201 40 109.98 74.34 [2] Noor Ezan Abdullah, Athirah A.Rahim, Hadzli Hashim, and
Mahanijah Md Kamal, “Classification of Rubber Tree Leaf Disease
Fusicoccum Using Multilayer Perceptron Neural Network” . Research and
51.7575 40 60.38 47.94
Development, 2007 . SCOReD 2007. 5th Student Conference. 12-11
Dec 2007. PP 1-6
Oidium 87.1911 40 101.04 77.76
[3] R. Pydipati, T.F Burks and W.S. Lee, “Statistical and Neural Network
Colletotrichum Classifier for Citrus Disease Detection Using Machine Vision,”
57.9372 40 66.55 48.32
Transaction of the ASAE, vol. 48(5), pp 2007-2014, 2005.
Total 70.6809 200 109.98 47.94 [4] B.S.Anami D.G. Savakar, A.Makandar, and P.H. Unki “ A Neural
Network Model for classification of Bulk Grain Samples Based on
Color and Texture,” presented at Proceedings of the International
Conference on Cognition and Recognition.
[5] Azmil Rizal Bin Abdullah. “Diagnosing The Rubber Leaf Disease
VI. FUTURE DEVELOPMENT using Image Processing and ANN”. Thesis of the Bachelor of
Based on the results, the experiment has produced Electrical Engineering (Hons). Universiti Teknologi MARA.
several promising results. A sensor with specific wavelength [6] H.Hashim, R.A. Rahman, R Jarmin, and M.N. Talib, “ A Study on
RGB color Extraction of Psoriasis Lesion using Principle Component
can be fabricated to measure the reflectance. Extension to Analysis (PCA).” Presented at Student Conference on Research and
this work involves intelligence software for example Fuzzy Development (SCOReD 2006), Shah Alam, Malaysia , 2006.
or PIC as the controller in order to process the output from
the sensor and display the result. To ensure that the data
from the analysis are accurate, more leaf samples are needed
for each type of disease e.g. 100 samples and above.
VII. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to acknowledge Assoc. Prof Dr.Hadzli
Hashim and Mr. Fairul Nazmie Osman for their advices,
ideas and critical guidance throughout the preparation of
this project. Also, special appreciation to Dr.Masahuling
Benong, Mrs.Murnita Mohamad Mahyudin and Miss
Nurmi Rohayu Abdul Hamid from Rubber Research
Institute of Malaysia (RRIM) for sharing their knowledge
and providing the sample of leaf sample prior to the
preparation of this project.

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