PlantCareNet: an advanced system to recognize plant diseases with dual-mode recommendations for prevention
Muhaiminul Islam, AKM Azad, Shifat E. Arman, Salem A. Alyami, Md Mehedi Hasan
Abstract
Plant diseases adversely affect the agricultural sector by substantially affecting food security and limiting production. We introduce PlantCareNet, a novel, automated, end-to-end diagnostic system for plant diseases that can also offer interactive guidance to users. The system utilizes a dual mode strategy that integrates advanced deep learning algorithms for precise disease diagnosis with a knowledge-based framework guided by experts for preventive measures. The proposed architecture utilizes a convolutional neural network (CNN) to examine images of plant leaves, with the final block flattened and subsequently forwarded to Dense-100 and ultimately Dense-35 for the precise classification of various plant diseases. Subsequently, PlantCareNet promptly offers two types of recommendations: automated suggestions based on identified symptoms and expert-guided advice for personalized treatment. Both categories of recommendations are accessible immediately. The experimental findings indicate that PlantCareNet can accurately diagnose diseases in five well-known datasets, with an accuracy between 82% and 97%, outperforming notable models like Inception and ResNet in most cases. The overall approach demonstrates advancement by surpassing lightweight CNN models with 97% precision and an average inference time of 0.0021 s, hence offering farmers precise and quick actions for remedy. This study emphasises a novel blend of artificial intelligence-driven recognition and expert consultation, which contributes to the advancement of sustainable agriculture practices.