Abstract

This study addresses the imperative need for early detection of leaf diseases in tobacco, pepper, and tomato plants, as these diseases significantly impact crop yield and quality. Existing methods often fall short in accurately identifying diseases across diverse plant species. The research aims to bridge this gap by proposing a hybrid deep learning approach, combining the robust feature extraction capabilities of AlexNet with the precise segmentation and classification prowess of UNet. The proposed hybrid model leverages AlexNet proficiency in extracting hierarchical features from plant leaf images and subsequently utilizes UNet for accurate disease classification. This synergistic combination enables the model to overcome the challenges posed by the varied morphologies of tobacco, pepper, and tomato leaves. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology, showcasing superior performance in terms of accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity compared to existing techniques. The hybrid deep learning approach exhibits promising potential for early and accurate detection of leaf diseases, contributing to sustainable crop management practices.