An Optimized YOLO v5 Model for Tomato Leaf Disease Classification with Field Dataset

Deep learning has gained widespread adoption in various fields, including object recognition, classification, and precision agriculture. This study aimed to investigate the use of deep convolutional neural networks for the real-time identification of diseases in tomato plant leaves. A customized field dataset was constructed, consisting of several images of tomato leaves captured using a mobile phone from agricultural fields in the Kerala and Tamil Nadu regions and classified into two categories: healthy and diseased. A YOLO v5 deep learning model was trained to classify images of tomato leaves into the respective categories. This study aimed to determine the most effective hyperparameters for the classification and detection of healthy and sick leaves sections, using both proprietary and publicly available datasets. The YOLO v5 model demonstrated a notable accuracy rate of 93% when evaluated in the test dataset. This method can help farmers quickly recognize diseased leaves and prompt the implementation of preventive measures to curtail the spread of tomato plant diseases.