Image Segmentation for Feature Extraction: A Study on Disease Diagnosis in Agricultural Plants

Need For Disease Diagnosis In Agricultural Plants

Though, India has positioned one among the top countries in producing food cereals, farmers are still struggling for their livelihood. This may be due to several reasons like- less yield, unaware about the current market value, etc. Fewer yields may be due to many factors, in which, the most prominent one is the occurrence of disease in crops. Disease in crops reduces the products quality and quantity; thereby makes the farmers poorer and poor. Consequently, it affects our economy also.

Disease can be defined as any abnormality found in plants based on its appearance or function suspending its growth. Plant diseases can be categorized into 2- Biotic and Abiotic diseases. The causal agents are called pathogens. Disease affected plants are caused by pathogens namely fungi, bacteria and virus, depreciating the major functions of the plant viz. photosynthesis, transpiration, etc. A water-soaked tiny pale green spot which later gets enlarged and appear as dry dead spots can be identified as a symptom for bacterial infection. Symptoms found for viral diseases are wrinkling and curling up of the leaves followed with stop in growth. These diseases are difficult to diagnose as the same symptoms can be caused due to nutrient deficiencies and herbicide injury. Table 1 shows the various visual symptoms of occurrence various types of pathogens, its mode of transmission and lists some diseases caused by each pathogen. Amount of damage caused may vary depending on the type of pathogen and its combinations infected. The virulence of infection depends on the susceptibility of the variety, timing of infection, insects, and environmental conditions. Therefore early diagnosis of disease is necessary for increasing the productivity, quality of the food.