Review of image processing approaches for detecting plant diseases

There is intense pressure on agricultural productivity due to the ever-growing population. Several diseases affect crop yield and thus, effective control of these can significantly improve the production of food for all. In this regard, detection of diseases at an early stage and quantification of the severity, in general, has acquired urgent attention of the researchers. In this study, a summary of prevalent techniques and methodologies used for the detection, quantification and classification of diseases is presented to understand the scope of improvement. The study pays attention to critical gaps that exist in available approaches and enhance them for the early prediction of diseases. Diseases affect almost all parts of plants, e.g. root, stem, flower, leaf; a manifestation in different ways for different parts of the plant of the same disease presents a challenge for researchers. This study extends the review work published by JGA Barbedo in 2013, as there have been significant advances and numerous new techniques introduced since then. A novel approach of classifying and categorisation of the existing techniques based on pathogen types is a significant contribution by the authors in this study.