Review of Leaf Diseases Detection using

Python
ABSTRACT
Plant diseases are a major reason for loss in agricultural productivity, both in quantity and quality.
Farmers face many challenges in spotting and managing these diseases. Therefore, early diagnosis of
plant diseases is required. This project utilizes image processing techniques to detect these diseases in
plants. A Web Application is proposed that enables farmers to identify plant diseases by simply
uploading a picture of the affected leaf. The system uses various algorithms to analyze the uploaded
image, pinpoint the disease, and deliver the results back to the user through the web application.

1. INTRODUCTION
The traditional method for detecting plant diseases is experts' visual inspection, but this approach is
both costly and labor-intensive, especially for large farms. Large teams of experts are needed for
continuous monitoring, which becomes financially difficult, especially in countries where farmers
lack access to proper facilities or expert advice. Consulting experts also proves to be expensive and
time-consuming under such circumstances.
In contrast, the suggested technique offers significant advantages in monitoring vast crop fields.
Automatic disease detection by analyzing symptoms on plant leaves simplifies and reduces the cost of
the process. Visual identification of plant diseases requires large workforce and is less accurate.
Utilizing automatic detection techniques requires fewer efforts, less time, and offers higher accuracy.
Common plant diseases include bacterial infections, black spots, rust, viral infections, and red cotton
leaf.
Image processing serves as a vital tool for measuring the affected area of the disease and identifying
differences in the color of the affected regions [1]. Image segmentation, a crucial step, involves
separating an image into distinct parts. Several methods, from basic thresholding to advanced color
segmentation techniques, are employed for image segmentation. This process relies on various image
features, such as color information, boundaries, or segments within the image.

2. HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
Plant leaf diseases are a major cause of loss of crops, fruits, etc. These diseases are caused by
pathogens. Pathogens are carriers that cause bacterial, fungal and viral infections. Most commonly,
plant diseases can be classified into following categories -

● FUNGAL DISEASES-
Fungi is the cause of fungal illnesses. It is a group of organisms that produce spores and
consume organic stuff. A fungal's spores are its reproductive cells. Fungal thrive best in dark
settings, spores can often form in the shade or in parts of plants that receive little light.
Animals, water, and the wind all carry spores. Moreover, spores can be dispersed by humans,
machines, or any other thing. The type of fungus growing on the plant is the basis for both
 plant and leaf fungus identification. More than 20,000 distinct types of fungi can be harmful
to plants and crops. Plant illnesses are categorised as fungal infections in about 85% of cases.
Fungi types that affect plants:
1. Black Spot- This disease is exclusive to roses, it is so common that it can be found all
throughout the United States. The fungus known as "black spot" solely targets the leaf's top.
Dark, spherical leaf spots with uneven, feathery borders on the upper leaf surface are
indicative of this particular leaf fungus. This kind of fungus weakens the plant and makes it
more vulnerable to other illnesses, insects, and cold weather even while it doesn't harm the
plant directly. Black spot disease grows best in damp environments.
2. Rust- This illness is brought on by more than 5,000 different fungal species. Roses,
hollyhocks, snapdragons, daylilies, beans, and tomatoes are all susceptible to common rust.
On the underside of the leaves and stems, the fungi initially appear as elevated, white patches.
These patches develop into pustules or rust-orange pimples that eventually turn yellow-green
and black. Leaves turn yellow and drop on the underside due to rust fungi. Eventually, the
fungus will reach the leaf's apex and cause the leaves to drop off the branches. Many rust
species have the ability for their spores to go dormant, or inactive, over the winter. In
situations with high moisture content, most rust spores grow.
3. The fungus known as Botrytis causes botrytis blight. Certain vegetables, soft fruits, flowers,
trees, and shrubs are all susceptible to this fungus. Although the fungus can thrive in a variety
of settings, wet, chilly circumstances promote its proliferation. Various blight species cause
the plant to develop white growth that finally turns smoky grey. This is the reason that grey
mould is another name for Botrytis blight. Generally speaking, blight grows where the plant is
least strong. The fungal devastation can proceed rapidly after the spores disperse.

● BACTERIAL DISEASES -
Bacteria are the source of bacterial illnesses. Single-celled organisms called bacteria are
present practically everywhere on Earth. Plants can become seriously ill from bacteria. The
tissue of plants is not penetrated by these single-celled creatures. Rather, they get inside the
plant via tiny wounds or organic plant apertures. While certain species of bacteria thrive in
warm, moist circumstances, others prefer the cool, damp conditions. Bacterial ooze, which
happens when water and bacterial cell droplets seep through plant fissures or pores, is a side
effect of some bacterial illnesses.
Commonly found bacterial diseases-
1. Bacterial Ooze- Bacteria are the source of bacterial illnesses. Single-celled organisms
called bacteria are present practically everywhere on Earth. Plants can become
seriously ill from bacteria. The tissue of plants is not penetrated by these single-celled
creatures. Rather, they get inside the plant via tiny wounds or organic plant apertures.
While certain species of bacteria thrive in warm, moist circumstances, others prefer
the cool, damp conditions. Bacterial ooze, which happens when water and bacterial
cell droplets seep through plant fissures or pores, is a side effect of some bacterial
illnesses.
2. Canker-Plants such as cherries, plums, and peaches can develop bacterial canker.
Gummy or water-soaked lesions are signs of this bacteria infection. Cankers are these
dead patches on the plant's branch or bark. The cankers' underlying moist tissues will
turn brown to black, making them darker than the bark around them. The bacteria can
enter trees in the autumn, winter, or early spring through holes in the plant tissue. The
bacteria are dispersed by rain and pruning tools and thrive in cool, damp weather.
 3. Bacterial Soft Rot- This disease attacks a wide variety of vegetables, including
lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, and herbs. It thrives in warm,
humid environments. On various sections of vegetable crops, the bacteria cause soft,
rotted areas that are wet and slimy. More crops are lost to bacterial soft rot than to
any other disease worldwide.

● VIRAL DISEASES-
Viruses are the source of viral diseases. A virus is an infectious agent that is not alive and
relies on living things, or hosts, in order to survive and proliferate. Cell walls are structures
found in plant cells. Because these walls are so thick, tiny viruses cannot pass through them
on their own. A plant has to have an opening for viruses to enter. These holes may result from
insect damage, natural causes, or equipment and tool wear and tear on the plant.
Commonly found viral diseases-
1. Mosaic Virus - Any virus that causes a mosaic pattern of light/dark green or
yellow/green on the leaves of a variety of plants is referred to as a mosaic virus. The
first virus identified was the tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). Tobacco, tomatoes, and
other solanaceous plants are infected by this virus. TMV is easily spread when an
infected leaf rubs up against a leaf from a healthy plant. It enters plants through a tiny
wound. Depending on the kind of plant it infects, TMV can cause a wide range of
symptoms, such as mosaic patterns, deformed leaves, yellow spotting on leaves, and
noticeable yellow veins.
2. Wilt Virus- Thrips are the vector for the tomato spotted wilt virus. These are tiny,
thin, airborne insects. Through puncturing the outer layer of plant cells, thrips
consume plants. This creates a gap that the virus can enter. As the larva feeds on
infected plants, it may also contract the virus. Young leaves with bronzing on the
upper sides are a result of the tomato spotted wilt virus. The bronzing eventually
results in dead spots. Moreover, leaves may cup upward.
3. Potato Virus Y (PVY)- This affects solanaceous plants, which include eggplants,
tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, and tobacco. The virus is composed of numerous
strands, each of which affects the plant differently. Aphids are the primary carrier of
PVY. PVY can result in a mosaic pattern on leaves. Additionally, leaves may get
coarse and eventually develop dead tissue.

DISEASE SYMPTOM TREATMENT

Black spot attacks top of the leaf; dark, round treat with fungicide
leaf spots
Rust rust-colored pustules on the remove affected areas and
underside of the leaf; pustules may treat with fungicide
eventually turn black
Botrytis blight smoke grey mold on plant remove infected areas and
treat with fungicide
Black rot irregular, dull-shaped blotches on copper products; fungicide
the edges of the leaf progressing to
V-shaped lesions light-brown to
 yellow in color
Bacterial canker water-soaked gummy lesions or remove infected areas
cankers on the trunk of the tree
Soft rot causes vegetables to have wet, no effective treatment other
slimy rotted areas than removing dead areas to
avoid further damage
Mosaic virus mosaic pattern, malformed leaves, no effective treatment
yellow spotting
Tomato spotted wilt bronzing underside of leaf leading no effective treatment
virus to dead spots
Potato virus leaves have a mosaic pattern no effective treatment
eventually leading to dead tissue

3. EXISTING METHODS
Earlier research papers have detailed the detection of pests such as aphids,thrips,ad whiteflies,
employing diverse methodologies and implementation strategies outlined and discussed below. They
proposed a cognitive vision system that integrates image processing,learning and knowledge based
techniques, specifically focusing on detecting the mature stage of whiteflies and counting their
numbers on individual leaflets. the evaluation involved a test dataset comprising 180 images,with 162
images tested,each exhibiting 0 to 5 whitefly pests.Evaluation ,atrics included false negative
rate(FNR) and false positive rate(FPR) for images with no whiteflies (class1) ,at least one whitefly
(class 2),and the entire test set. To broaden the scope, the implementation of image processing
algorithms was extended to detect pests in controlled environments like greenhouses.The study
considered three key features-size, morphological features (boundary shape),and colour components-
to identify adult insects such as whiteflies,aphids and thrips.The objective was to advance early pest
detection in greenhouses through video analysis ,with a focus on creating a decision support system
handling video camera data.The algorithms implemented specially targeted the detection of two bio-
aggressors,namely whiteflies and aphids,capable of identifying low infestation stages by detecting
whitefly eggs and analyzing their behaviour .The proposed pest detection system involves four steps:-
colour conversion, seementation , noise reduction and whitefly counting .A unique algorithm relative
difference in pixel intensities(RDI),was introduced for whitefly detection across various crops,
achieving a 96% accuracy over 100 images.Another innovative approach presented a method for pest
detection and positing based on binocular stereo,providing location information for guiding robots in
automated pesticide spraying.
Additionally ,contextual parameter turning for adaptive image segmentation was introduced to
efficiently adjust algorithm parameters considering variations in leaf color and contrast .Lastly ,an
automatic classification method was presented for identifying main agents causing damage to soybean
leaflets, specifically beetles and caterpillars,using a support vector machine (SVM) classifier

I. LITERATURE REVIEW
In Paper [1] , there has been a significant focus on automating the identification of plant diseases.
Plants can be affected by diseases in various parts, including roots, stems, fruits, and leaves. However,
the specific research interest lies in diseases occurring in leaves. There are 4 phases-
 a) Create colour transformation structure for RGB leafinage and apply color space
transformation.
b) Images segmented using K- means clustering.
c) Calculated texture features for segmented infected objects.
d) Extracted features are pased through a pre-trained NN.
With precision of 93%.
One approach discussed in Paper [2] involves a methodology for recognizing plant diseases on both
leaves and stems. This method employs the K-Means segmentation technique, followed by classifying
the segmented images using a neural network. The research team developed a technique to detect
visual signs of plant diseases through image processing algorithms. To assess the accuracy of their
algorithm, they compared manually segmented images with automatically segmented ones.
Paper [3] explores various techniques for segmenting diseased parts of plants. This paper uses feature
extraction and classification methods to identify infected leaf features and classify plant diseases.
Techniques like self-organizing feature maps, back propagation algorithms, and SVMs are discussed,
offering efficient ways to identify and classify various plant diseases using image processing. As
compared to 1st paper, it identify most green coloured pixels. Pixel are masked based on specific
threshold values using Otsu’s method. Pixel with zero RGB values and those on boundaries of
infected object are removed with the precision level of 83-94%.
In Paper [4], an image processing-based approach is used to classify plant diseases automatically,
focusing on soybean leaves. The research involves discriminating between diseased and healthy
soybean leaves using an SVM classifier. The primary goal of this work is to provide inputs to an
autonomous Decision Support System (DSS) that is useful to the farmers. They can simply capture an
image of the plant leaf with a mobile camera and send it to the DSS without additional inputs.
Accuracy 96.7%.Espicially for citrus industry.
In Paper [5], groundnut leaf diseases are extracted and classified using color imagery. The method
involves color image transformation and feature extraction, then classifying using a neural network.
This approach achieved about 97% efficiency in detecting four different diseases on groundnut leaves.
In Paper [6] focuses on the detection of plant diseases and the identification of infected plant parts.
The process begins with input images, followed by segmentation of background and black pixels.
Then, the Hue and Saturation components of the image are separated. The main objective of this
research is to enhance computing classifiers using a neural network approach, providing improved
results.
In Paper[7], BPNN back propagation neural network is used with the accuracy of 97.3%.
In Paper [11], Fruit disease detection nd also leaf disease detection is done .The steps are-
a) image acquisition.
b) Preprocessing ,noise removal with masking and image enhancement using DCT.
c) Feature extraction using color space conversion and texture feature extraction using Canny
Edge detection and dilation
II. BLOCK DIAGRAM
The system consists of the following blocks:
FIG. 1 SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE
In our project, we use WebSocket, a computer communications protocol that provides full-duplex
communication channels over a single TCP connection. We utilize this protocol to send images
captured through a mobile camera to a local server. For image processing, we rely on Python, an
interpreted high-level programming language widely used for general-purpose programming.
Within the Python environment, we use OpenCV, an open-source computer vision library founded by
passionate coders in 1999. OpenCV provides interfaces in C++, C, and Python, making it compatible
with Windows, Linux, Android, and Mac platforms. It serves as a important library for image
processing in Python. Our system incorporates a leaf identification algorithm within a Python web
framework. This algorithm allows the detection and identification of leaves and diseases. The
information is stored in a database, and the results are sent back to the farmer who sent the image, all
facilitated through the WebSocket connection.
This seamless integration of WebSocket, Python, and OpenCV forms the backbone of the project,
enabling efficient and real-time communication, image processing, and disease identification for
farmers.

III. FLOW CHART :

 Figure 2: FLOW CHART

CLAHE - is Contrast Limited Adaptive histogram equalization . It used for light intensity
Equalization.
C.N.N - Convolution Neural Network (CNN, or ConvNet) is a class of deep,artificial neural networks,
most commonly applied to analyzing visual imagery.

IV. THE STEPS OF THE PROPOSED SYSTEM

A. Image Acquisition: Initially, plant leaf images are captured using a camera, producing images in
RGB (Red, Green, and Blue) format. To enhance the processing efficiency, a color transformation
structure is created. A device-independent color space transformation is then applied.
B. Image Pre-processing: Various techniques are applied to prepare the image for analysis.
RGB to Gray Converter: Utilizing the weighted method, the RGB image is transformed into
grayscale. Red's 30% contribution, green's 59% contribution, and blue's 11% contribution are
calculated. This method balances color wavelengths, ensuring a more accurate representation.
Image Resize: Document images often have resolutions exceeding 2000x2000, impractical for current
computing resources. To mitigate this, the grayscale image is resized to a standard format, typically
400x400, enhancing resolution and reducing computational load.
CLAHE (Contrast Limited Adaptive Histogram Equalization): Traditional Adaptive Histogram
Equalization (AHE) may amplify noise in constant image regions due to concentrated histograms.
CLAHE limits contrast amplification, addressing noise issues in near-constant areas, thus improving
image quality.
Gaussian Blur: Gaussian blur, achieved by convolving the image with a Gaussian function, is
employed to reduce image noise and detail. This technique is valuable in image processing, especially
for enhancing visual quality.
Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs): After noise removal and pre-processing, feature extraction
is essential. CNNs are utilized for document image classification. The CNN architecture enables
hierarchical feature detection, allowing the training of nonlinear classifiers for intricate document
layout identification. The process involves downsampling, pixel value normalization, and feeding the
normalized image into the CNN, which predicts the document's class label.
These pre-processing steps ensure that the input images are optimized for accurate analysis and
classification within the system. The combination of color transformation, noise reduction, resizing,
and feature extraction through CNNs forms a robust framework for effective plant leaf disease
identification.
3. CONCLUSION
With the advancement of technology, there is a growing demand for automated monitoring and
management systems. In agriculture, significant yield losses are attributed to widespread diseases.
Often, diseases are only detected and identified when they have reached an advanced stage, resulting
in substantial losses in yield, time, and money. The proposed system aims to address this issue by
detecting diseases at an early stage, as soon as they appear on the leaves.
By identifying diseases promptly, the system helps prevent losses and reduces the reliance on experts
to some extent. It offers valuable assistance to individuals with limited knowledge about plant
diseases. To achieve these objectives, the system focuses on extracting specific features
corresponding to each disease, enabling accurate and timely identification. This approach not only
saves resources but also enhances the overall efficiency of disease management in agriculture

4. REFERENCES
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[2] Armand M.Makowski "Feature Extraction of diseased leaf images", Fellow, IEEE
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[11] An Approach for Detection and Classification of Fruit Disease Zalak R. Barot1 and Prof.
Narendrasinh Limbad2 1 Department of Information Technology Department, L.J.I.E.T 2 Assi.Prof.,
Computer Engineering and Information Technology Department, LJIET, Ahmedabad, India