Chapter - One

Introduction

1.1 Overview

The plant disease drastically reduces both, growth and yield of the plant. Therefore, it
is necessary to find the ways and means to combat plant diseases for maintaining
sufficient food produce supply for the living bodies globally. Detection of plant
disease and its severity has always been challenging. Earlier naked eye observation
(visual analysis) was the only available technique to analyze the disease severity. This
technique requires continuous monitoring of the crop field for the correct estimation
of disease by expert of this field. As the visual analysis requires constant human
observations, the process (visual analysis) tends to be very costly, cumbersome and
time-consuming for large areas of plants. The exponential increasing population
changes the demand of supply of food produce scenario rapidly. Such situation forces
the society, as a whole, to think for, use of advanced technology so that early and
accurate estimation of disease for the implementation of remedial measure that can be
applied at the right time. Image processing techniques are proven to be one of the
accurate and economic practices for measuring the parameters related to various plant
diseases.

1.2 Agriculture

In the modern era, agriculture does mean betterment of human life instead of merely
feeding the growing population. Agriculture and allied sectors like forestry and
fisheries accounted for 17.32% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), i.e., about 50%
of the total workforce; although, the contribution of agriculture towards the India’s
GDP is progressively declining every year [1]. The progressive declination in
agriculture growth occurs due to various plant diseases. Traditionally, a visual
estimate for identifying the disease and calculation of disease severity is based on
characteristics of plant disease symptoms and visible signs of pathogens. The severity
of disease is evaluated through naked eyes observation by the skilled person of the
same field and subjected to intensive research and investigation. This technique may
Chapter -One Introduction

need relatively higher consumption of time and demanding experienced individual

with well-developed skills for disease diagnosis [2].
Riker and Riker (1936) highlighted the difficulties in visualization, detection
and diagnosis the plant diseases and provided an overview of the strength and
weakness of existing methods. They suggested that there is a need of better methods
for the diagnosis of disease presently, in absence of any standard method. The Riker
and Riker suggestions are suitable and shows importance for the future plant
protection scenario. This still needs an innovative technique to deal with the future
trends in agricultural field and challenges in increment of production. Thus,
enhancement in available technique as well as development of new technique is
required for automatic detection with high sensitivity for accurate detection of plant
disease over and above of visual estimation process [3].
Plants are affected by the environment during all the phases of its growth and
development. In addition to environmental parameters (like rain, temperature,
scorching sunlight and climatic change), soil index properties (pH, moisture, and
nutrients) and diseases are the major factor that affects the growth of the plant as they
significantly contribute to the reduction of both quality and quantity of ultimate yield
[4]. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that pests and diseases
are responsible for about 25% of crop losses. So, it is an important parameter to be
controlled else it might lead to adverse effects on the growth of the plants (such as
deterioration of plant health) and eventually the crop yields [5].
Plant disease causes significant economic losses every year to the farmers
worldwide. These losses can occur anytime between sowing and consumption of the
product causing fatal loss to the farmers. Further, these diseases are harmful to the
society as they cause stomach disorders, paralysis and liver diseases. The frequent
occurrence of diseases on crop plants are rust, bacterial wilt and root rots, downy
mildews, ergot, nematodes, leaf spots, etc. Hence in order to avoid valuable losses of
food produce, it requires a robust method to prevent and control plant diseases. So,
fast and suitable techniques must be adopted for the correct and timely assessment of
the various plant diseases [6].

2
Chapter -One Introduction

1.2.1 Plant Pathology

Plant Pathology was originated from Greek word “Phytopathometry” (phyto means
“plant”; pathos means “disease” and metron means “measure”). It is the scientific
method or branch of agriculture science, which deals with the diseases in plants
caused by pathogens (infectious organisms) and surrounding environmental
conditions (physiological factors). Somewhere, it may also known as a branch of
science that has a dignified aspiration of protecting the crops, those providing food for
humans and animals [7, 8]. Among all branches of science; Nematology, Soil Science,
Virology, Genetics and Plant Breeding, Weed Science, Bio-Technology, Meteorology
and Mycology, plays a key role in raising the crops and in suitable management of
plant diseases.
The fundamental concept in Plant Pathology is represented by the disease
triangle as shown in Figure 1.1. Edge of the triangular part represents a factor that is
responsible for disease development: a host, a pathogen (the agent that causes
disease), and favorable environment. The occurrence of all three factors must be
simultaneously for a plant disease to develop. Without the right host in the right
environmental conditions and suitable pathogens cannot cause any harm to plants [9].

Susceptible host

No No
disease disease

Disease
Pathogen

No
Favorable
disease
environment

Figure 1.1 Disease triangle

3
Chapter -One Introduction

1.2.2 Pathogen

Pathogen (pathos means “suffering” and genes means “producer of”) means producer
of sufferings. The term ‘Pathogen’ used to describe an infectious agent such as,
bacteria, fungus, parasite, virus, viroid, bacteria, or prion causes disease in its host.
The host may be a human, an animal, a plant, a fungus, or even another micro-
organism [10].
Effect of Pathogens on Photosynthesis: The process of photosynthesis is an essential
function of the green and healthy plants. This (photosynthesis) may enable the plants
to transform the sun light energy into chemical energy. The chemical energy obtained
from the photosynthesis is utilized in cell activities. The human hazard gas (carbon
dioxide) from the surrounding atmosphere of plant and water or moisture available at
the level of roots in soil interacts with each other in the chloroplasts of the plants and
form glucose with simultaneous release of oxygen, in the presence of light as
indicated below [11],

Light
6CO2 + 6H2O C6H12O6 + 6O2 (1.1)

Chlorophyll

The elementary location of photosynthesis in the life of plants is apparent that any
interference by pathogens with photosynthesis results in a diseased condition of the
plants. The leaf spot, blight, and other kinds of diseases that damages the leaf tissue,
photosynthesis is reduced because it affects the chloroplast and causes degeneration
due to reduction in photosynthesis process [12].

1.2.3 Host

Development of the disease depends on the host (plant) itself. The probability of
occurrences of the disease is zero, if the host has been found to be absent. Therefore,
the progress in plant disease is justified for the stage in which the host plant must be
in development stage and during development stage only the infection occur.
Moreover, it is also essential to infect the host plant; the growth of the pathogen must
be in a disease producing stage [13].

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Chapter -One Introduction

1.2.4 Environmental Conditions

Environmental conditions play an important role for pathogens to cause infection and
it varies from pathogen to pathogen. High humidity and specific temperature ranges
are necessary for the fungal disease to occur. The primary environmental factors such
as relative humidity, temperature, wind, and sunlight affects the plant growth. If one
of the above suggested environmental factors is out of balance for the culture of a
specific plant, the tendency to become diseased in a plant increases rapidly.
Relative Humidity- Presence of relative humidity provides a constructive role in the
development of the plant diseases. The common disease favorable condition achieved
when the relative humidity lies in the range of 80-90%. Such kind of conditions can
be achieved in rainy season. So, the constantly wet foliage due to constant watering
promotes the development of disease in the plants [14]. There are number of
pathogens like Macrophomina, Rhizoctonia bataticola, etc. that grows well in dry
conditions whereas pathogens like Rhizoctonia solani and Ascohyta blight grows well
in high humidity.
Temperature- Change in temperature affects the disease and its growth in both
(favorable and unfavorable) manner. Involvement of pathogens with host requires a
specific range of temperature to damage the crop yield. Nature of pathogens is
primary factor to classify the nature of disease as warm-weather or cool-weather
diseases. Pathogens multiplication rate is also influenced by the temperature besides
desideration of type of disease [15]. For example the multiplication rate of
Rhizoctonia bataticola is higher at the temperature range between 25-35 °C.
Wind and Sun- The contamination of disease in large area and one place to another is
primarily governed by the prevailing wind. This may happen owing to movement of
pathogens with wind. Sometimes, the combination of wind and sunlight also change
the environmental conditions of plant surfaces. Favorable conditions like, faster
drying reduces the infection opportunity for pathogen. Similarly, sunlight alone also
plays a significant role towards plant health. If the plants do not receive the sufficient
amount of sunlight to meet their cultural requirement, then they become stressed
which makes them more susceptible to infection [16].

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Chapter -One Introduction

1.3 Types of Leaf Diseases

Leaves are the important part of the plant. Various factors like insufficient nutrient,
diseases, pests, improper sunlight, floods, etc. are responsible for the deterioration and
ultimately damage of leaves. Leaf damages due to disease are one of the most
influencing parameter in plant growth. The disease causes a reduction in various
functions (like transpiration, photosynthesis, germination, pollination, etc.) of the
plant. Therefore, early diagnosis of leaf (foliar) disease is considered to be an
essential task to increase the crop yield [17].
Fungus, virus, and bacteria are the primary disease-causing pathogens. These
pathogens are responsible for the reduction in crop yield. Among all pathogens, the
funguses are proven to be uttermost crop growth affecting pathogen [18]. The
common foliar diseases that occur on plants are named as Early blight, Late blight,
Leaf spot, Leaf curl, Fire blight, Rust, Mosaic virus, Downy mildew, Anthracnose,
etc. The foliar diseases and their symptoms along with the type of disease are detailed
in Table 1.1. The visual perception of such foliar diseases on different crop plants are
shown in Figure 1.2.

6
 Table 1.1 Foliar diseases along with its agents and symptoms
Name of disease Type of Type of vegetation Agriculture Information (Symptoms of disease)
disease
Early blight Fungal Appears on tomato and It first appears on the older and lower parts of the leaves as small brown spots with
potato plants concentric rings that form a “bull’s eye” pattern. Later leaf surface turns to yellow,
wither and die.
Downy mildew Fungal Found on grapes and Due to this yellow to white patches on the upper surfaces of older leaves appeared.
vegetables
Rust Fungal Found on grapes and Due to this slightly raised spots on the undersides of leaves and on the stems can be
vegetables seen. After a short period, these spots become covered with rust-coloured spore
masses. Later, it turns to yellow-green and eventually black.
Powdery mildew Fungal Affects a wide range of Upper surface of infected leaves is usually covered with a white to grey powdery
plants like grapes, onion, growth. The increase in the quantity of infection may turn brown and drop the plant
apple, wheat, etc. leaves.
Mosaic virus Plant virus Found on tobacco plants, Due to this yellow stripes or spots on foliage occur.
pulses, etc.
Leaf spot Parasitic Found on tomato, peppers, Due to this infected leaf became brown or black and water-soaked spots occur on the
fungi or etc. foliage.
bacterial
Late blight Fungal Found on tomato and potato It appears on the lower and older leaves as a water-soaked and grey-green spots.
Later these spots became dark.
Leaf curl Fungal, or Found on chilli, pulses, Due to this infected leaves grow reddish, thickened and puckered causing leaves to
viral papaya, etc. curl and distort.
Fire blight Bacterial Found on apples, pears, etc. Due to this most of the infected leaves and branch tips will rapidly turn brown or
black
Anthracnose Fungal Found on a variety of plants Here infected plants develop dark, water-soaked lesions on stem, leaves or fruit and
in warm and humid areas it causes the wilting, withering, and dying of tissues.
(a) (b)

(c) (d)

(e) (f)
Chapter -One Introduction

(g) (h)

(i) (j)

Figure 1.2 Types of leaf disease as; (a) early blight, (b) downy mildew, (c) rust, (d)
powdery mildew, (e) mosaic virus, (f) leaf spot, (g) late blight, (h) leaf curl, (i)
anthracnose, (j) fire blight

1.4 Problem Definition

1.4.1 Tikka Disease of Groundnut

Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is extensively sown and cultivated as a foremost

food in many tropical and subtropical countries as well as continents of the world
[19]. It belongs to the family of Fabaceae. It is also known as Peanut, Monkey-nut,
Earthnut, Marillnut, Goobernut and Panda. De Condole (1886) revealed its origin to
be in Brazil (South America) [20]. The crop is principally utilized as an oilseed, but
9
Chapter -One Introduction

considerable quantities are used directly for human consumption like other pulses. It
is also used as time pass eatables in all environments, even in running trains, buses,
etc. It provides a valuable source of protein (25.33%), carbohydrate (0.20%), fat
(40.50%), fiber (3.4%) and ash (1.9%) and has nearly almost half of the essential
vitamins (thirteen in numbers) needed for human growth and twenty of essential
minerals necessary for safeguarding the human body against diseases. The vegetable
oil is rich in omega-3 fatty acid and extensively used for cooking purpose. However,
as a source of oil, the Groundnut finds its largest use thus deriving the reputation as
‘King of Oil’ seed crops [21].
More than 90 countries of the world produces Groundnut crop. Among them,
Asian continent is leading with 71.7% of total production in 63.4% of Groundnut
cultivated area [22]. The leading producers of Groundnut in Asian continent are India,
China, and Indonesia [23]. The total coverage of area for this crop in India is about 5
million hectare with the production of 9.5 million tonnes having average productivity
of 1723 kg/ha. Major growing states of Groundnut in India are Gujarat, Rajasthan,
Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, West
Bengal and Telangana. Among these states, Gujarat stands first in its production
having maximum productivity 2668 kg/ha. However, Rajasthan stands second in
cultivation area as well as in production with productivity of 1950 kg/ ha. Rajasthan
state cultivates about 0.46 million hectares with annual production of 0.90 million
tonnes [24].
The major Groundnut growing districts in Rajasthan are Bikaner, Jaipur,
Jhodhpur, Churu, Sikar, Nagaur, Dausa, etc. Among these districts, Bikaner stands
first in area (0.13 million ha), and production (0.30 million tonnes ) followed by
Jaipur and Sikar [25].
Foliar diseases adversely affect the production of Groundnut every year. Out
of all foliar diseases like Alterneria leaf spot, Early and Late leaf spot, Powdery
mildew, Collar rot, Rust, Bud necrosis Virus, Rosette, etc. Tikka disease affects the
Groundnut crop severely. The Tikka disease is also known as early leaf spot and late
leaf spot disease. It is the most severe fungal disease, and owing to this disease
severity, pod yield of the Groundnut reduces drastically [26]. Occurrence of this
disease is very common among all states of India. However, severity depends on the
climatic conditions. The infection appears from the early flowering to the pod's
maturity stage, and its development depends on the growing period and environmental
10
Chapter -One Introduction

conditions. It affects, all the aerial parts of the Groundnut crop and cause losses in the
yield from 15% to 80% based on the severity [27].

1.4.2 Symptoms of Tikka Disease

The fungus Cercospora arachidicola (early leaf spot) and Cercospora personata (late
leaf spot) causes Tikka disease on Groundnut. The symptoms of these two pathogens
differ too much from each other. Early and late leaf spots, though appear, very rarely
on the same leaf [28].
 Early leaf spot (Cercospora arachidicola) symptoms
 Appearance of spots on the one-month-old crop.
 Spots may be circular to irregular (1-10mm) and less in number.
 Yellow halo present around the spot.
 Spots look to be reddish brown to black on the upper surface, while light
brown on the lower surface.
 Late leaf spot (Cercospora personata) symptoms
 Spots appear on 40 days old crop.
 Spots appear to be circular (1-6 mm) and more in number.
 Spots look reddish brown in the beginning and turn to black during
maturity on the upper surface and light brown on the lower surface.

Figure 1.3 shows symptoms of Tikka disease on Groundnut crop. Early leaf spot
occurs on the upper surface of the leaves as a light brown spot surrounded by yellow
halo as in Figure 1.3 (a) whereas; late leaf spot occurs on the lower surface of the
leaves with invisible or less yellow halo as in Figure 1.3 (b).

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Chapter -One Introduction

(a) (b)
Figure 1.3 Tikka disease of Groundnut crop; (a) early leaf spot, (b) late leaf spot

1.5 Image Processing

Now a day’s image processing is becoming rapidly growing technology with its
applications in various research fields. Some of the important applications of image
processing in the field of science and technology includes remote sensing, medical
image processing, computer vision, face detection, argument reality, biometric,
industries, data transmission, optical character recognition, forecasting and fingerprint
detection, etc. [29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36].
The research areas, which have been using traditionally analog images, are
now switching towards digital systems for their edibility and affordability. Image
processing is defined as the handling of a two-dimensional picture signal and
implementation of standard signal processing techniques on it with the help of a
computer. The outcome of image processing could be an image or a result asset of
feature or characteristics related to the image [37].
Image processing is divided into three parts, i.e., image capturing, processing
and finally presentation of the processed output. Capturing of image is the initial step
of any vision system. It can be acquired using mobiles, cameras, satellites or through
scanner. While processing the images, those obtained from different image acquisition
systems, available techniques are applied to get the required finer information from
the image. Thus, the technique image processing is defined more accurately as a key

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Chapter -One Introduction

of interlink between the human visual system and the digital imaging devices, which
promptly process an image to represent more meaningful object [38].

1.5.1 Image Processing in Agriculture

Production of good quality food produce and improvement in crop yield are
challenging for the researchers as well as agriculturist to meet the growing demands
globally. Thus, it is crucial to maximise agriculture resources and its utilizations in a
sustainable manner. Therefore, for the sustainable agriculture system, use of emerging
technology becomes important for significant and efficient contributions. With the
implementation of these techniques, possibility to reducing errors and costs for
achieving ecologically and economically sustainable agriculture is the thought of the
present era [39].
Earlier used techniques were inefficient and time consuming for analyzing the
problems and implementation of remedial measures. Diseased plants exhibit a variety
of symptoms like, stunting, yellowing, wilting, twisting, reddening, browning,
blighting, and other abnormalities [40]. Thus, accurate diagnosis is essential to
diagonize and control the plant disease effectively. Until a disease is adequately
diagnosed, a grower may waste time and energy as well as money to solve a problem
with an unknown cause. Once a disease is diagnosed, appropriate management
practices can be selected [41]. To overcome this problem a fast and accurate process
is required, that can automatically detect the disease on the leaf. Technique such as
visual detection requires significant time for visual inspection for a large cultivated
area. Thus, image processing technique is proven to be an effective method as
compared to visual analysis.
The image processing controls, all parameters involved in plant disease with
higher accuracy and lower financial outlay. This (image processing) technique may go
into finer details of visual symptoms. When a leaf gets infected by any foliar disease,
it displays a wide range of symptoms like coloured spots, streaks, etc. The symptoms
of disease show a continuous variation in colour, shape, and size as it deepens. These
attributes are used in image processing for detecting and predicting the severity of the
disease to forecast its effect on the crop yield [42]. Image processing has many
applications in the field of agriculture; a few of these are:
 In identification of disease on leaves, fruits, stem

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Chapter -One Introduction

 In classification of crops
 In weed detection
 In food grading
 In identification of insect on trees, plants etc.

Table 1.2 shows the comparative analysis between visual method and the image
processing technique. It is observed that image processing techniques are much better
than the visual method of detection [43].

Table 1.2 Comparison of image processing and visual system analysis

Parameters Visual System Analysis Image Processing Analysis
Accuracy Medium High
Complexity Low High
Cost High Initially high then low
Flexibility Low High
Scope of research Low High
Component required No Camera, network equipment
Software required No Visual analytics

1.6 Algorithm for the Study of Leaf Disease

Image processing technique has many significant and efficient applications in the
field of agriculture for detection of foliar diseases. For example, in identifying the
types of disease, finding the shape of the affected area, detecting the edges of the
diseased leaf, calculating the diseased ratio, separating the layers of target images and
determining the colour of affected areas. Figure 1.4 shows the block diagram of the
algorithm using image processing to identify and classify various leaf diseases.

Leaf Image Leaf Image Leaf Image

Acquisition Preprocessing Segmentation

Leaf Feature
Result Comparison Extraction

Figure 1.4 Generalized flow diagram for leaf disease detection

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Chapter -One Introduction

Digital images of leaf are acquired using a digital camera, mobile phone, etc. Image
preprocessing is done to highlight the features of a particular type of leaf. Then leaf
image segmentation is applied to separate the object of interest from its background.
Feature extraction technique extracts the relevant features of the leaf by using
morphological, chromatic, structural and textural characteristics. Finally, these
extracted features are used in making a comparison with the original image to get the
final result.

1.7 Advantages of Image Processing

The unrecognizable features of image processing can be made more prominent by

using images with better sharpness than visual appearance. It may also makes colour
differentiation process easy with better accuracy and higher speed of obtaining
outcomes as compared to the visual analysis. Image processing techniques are used
majorly to identify the presence of diseases on leaves, fruits, and stems of a plant [44,
45, 46]. Utilization of this technique (image processing) may further classify the crops
according to their shape, size patterns, etc. It also detects the weeds at an early stage
[47].

1.8 Limitations of Image Processing

The effectiveness of image processing depends on the technique adopted to collect the
image of the object. Adoption of image acquisition instrument in modern era, instead
of visual inspection through naked eye, increases cost of analysis. Further, the
improvement in the quality of the captured image as well as in image analysis may
move towards cost enhancement. Image processing cannot enable to analyse the soil-
borne (root rot, stem rot, wilt, damping off and root-knot) diseases of crop owing to
its inaccessibility to capture the images below the soil surface.

1.9 Preventative Measures in Image Acquisition

Following parameters must be taken into consideration while capturing leaf images
[4]:

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Chapter -One Introduction

a. Angle

Angle plays a vital role in the quality of captured image. The acquisition of image
with an inaccurate angle may introduce error in the output. The angle containing dark
shadows may give the false perception of the images. In the case of leaf, image
captured at an inaccurate angle might mislead observations. The picture may appear
as half or tending towards negligible of the original leaf, if the images captured at an
angle of less than or above 90°. However, the image captured at an angle of 90° gives
an exact size of image with true background. Figure 1.5 shows the images of leaf
captured with a different angle.

(a) (b)
Figure 1.5 Captured foliar diseased leaf; (a) at acute angle, (b) at obtuse angle

b. Lighting conditions

Favorable lighting condition is an essential parameter for the correct acquisition of an

image. Image captured in perfect lighting conditions shows outputs with accurate
colour variations. Variation in light intensity from 1000-2000 Lux with colour
temperature variation in between 4500-5500 K gives better output as compare to
images captured other than this range. The temperature corresponding to blue colour
provides little information about infected areas whereas, temperatures corresponding
to the golden and yellow colours gives the false information of infected area of the

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Chapter -One Introduction

leaf. However, white colour gives the exact information of the infected and healthy
regions of the leaf image, as it contains all the information realted to RGB colours.
Figure 1.6 shows the different colour temperatures.

10,000 Clear blue sky (10,000)

9,000
Colour Temperature in Kelvin (K)

8,000

7,000
Cloudy sky (6,500)
6,000
Midday sun (5,500)
5,000

4,000 Moonlight (4,000)

Morning / evening sun (3,500)
3,000 Light bulb (3,000)
Sunrise/sunset
2,000
Candle flame (1,800)
1,000

Figure 1.6 Colour temperatures [48]

c. Shadow

Shadow of an image is of utmost importance in the processing of images due to the

presence of darkness and brightness. The variation in darkness and brightness
represents the change in colour. It may be caused by non-uniform illumination,
sensitivity of camera and presence of dust and dirt on camera lenses. Leaf images
taken in the shadow gives patches of white (sunlight) and dark (shadow of some
object) perception. The false perception to image processing can be observed in such
cases which lead to miscalculation of the disease cluster. Figure 1.7 shows the shaded
image of a leaf.

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Chapter -One Introduction

Figure 1.7 Shaded image of a leaf

1.10 Motivation

Diseases cause substantial crop losses amounting to several million Rupees annually.
Till date, less work has been reported on the diagnosis of the various plant diseases
using image processing. So, the proposed research work is expected to fill some gap
and give confidence to farmers along with forecasting of the severity threshold level
as a means of warning to implement the suitable control measures to prevent yield
losses.

1.11 Problem Definition

Various leaf diseases cause severe losses to farmers resulting in a major threat to the
growers. To minimise above losses, a support system is required to timely assess the
foliar diseases of crops. Image processing approach is a non-invasive technique which
provides a reliable, cost-effective, and accurate solution to the farmers in minimal
time to optimise the yield losses. This study aims to investigate the possibility of
quantitative detection of Tikka disease of Groundnut crop at each stage of disease
development and to find the severity threshold level for spraying fungicides before
crop yield becomes severely affected.

1.12 Objectives

The objectivity of the proposed research is outlined as below:

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Chapter -One Introduction

 To observe the level of severity of disease using visual inspection as well as

image processing.
 To develop a computational technique to assess foliar disease of Groundnut
crop using image processing.
 To estimate disease severity using standard grading scale based on visual
inspection and image processing.
 To determine threshold severity range for spraying fungicides on crops.
 To compare and analyze the results, obtained from both, visual inspection and
image processing.

1.13 Organization of the Thesis

The thesis has been organized into six chapters for the easy flow of matter from
article to article and from chapter to chapter.
Chapter One provides a brief insight into the Plant Pathology to highlight
various foliar diseases on crops along with their assessment. This chapter also
presents key advantages of image processing in the field of agriculture for
identification, classification, grading, and diagnosis of various foliar diseases with the
limitations, applications, and advantages.
Chapter Two presents the comprehensive study of pertinent literature, with
critical analysis of state of the art. It includes identification of disease such as, leaf
spot, mosaic, early blight, leaf curl, late blight, anthracnose, fire blight, powdery
mildew, and rust on crop plants. The classification of such foliar diseases was
extensively carried out. The image processing techniques have been taken up for the
assessment of foliar diseases. The gaps in this area and elaborated scope of the work
for present study were also discussed.
Chapter Three deals with the conventional method of visual analysis (naked
eye observation) to predict the severity of Tikka disease on Groundnut crop. The
experiment on disease severity analysis were conducted in the laboratory of Rajasthan
Agriculture Research Institute (RARI) for the identification of disease as well as in
the field for calculating disease severity based on the grid analysis method.
Chapter Four presents pre-simulation for the analysis of Tikka disease by
creating artificial data sets using image processing techniques. The artificial data sets
were created based on specific methodology; which was designed in C#

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Chapter -One Introduction

(programming language). Histograms were formulated based on above stated process.

The correct estimation of RGB (Red-Green-Blue) values was calculated from
histogram and the growth rate of Tikka disease has been estimated.
Chapter Five presents a novel algorithm for the assessment of Tikka disease
on Groundnut crop. The estimation of the foliar disease was carried out using image
processing technique on real data sets collected from the experimental field in the
form of images. A mathematical model using MATLAB has been designed for the
prediction of growth rate of disease with environmental conditions as parameters.
Further, the threshold severity range was obtained for fungicidal applications.
Ultimately, the disease grading based on aforementioned outcomes has been
proposed. At last, the comparison was also done between visual (through the naked
eye) and image processing analysis for the assessment of Tikka disease of Groundnut.
Chapter Six presents the conclusions drawn from the present study. This
chapter concludes with summary of the current work in concise form along with the
brief description of the scope for future research.

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