A novel hybrid CNN methodology for automated leaf disease detection and classification

Plant leaf diseases are challenging to categorize due to the complexity of the pattern variations and the high degrees of inter-class similarity. Plant ailments harm food quality and production. To ensure the quality and quantity of harvests, it is essential to protect plants from disease. Detection of diseases at an early stage is the main and the most complex task for farmers due to common morphological properties like colour, shape, texture, and edges. In this study, a Hybrid Deep Learning model named Hybrid-Convolutional Support Machine (H-CSM) based on 'Support Vector Machine (SVM)', 'Convolutional Neural Network (CNN)' and 'Convolutional Block Attention Module (CBAM)' is proposed for the early diagnosis and classification of leaf diseases in plants leaf. The suggested model can initially identify different plant leaf illnesses, although it is not constrained to these. A database of pictures of plant leaves is used to test the suggested method based on different evaluation parameters. The results were highly promising, with an accuracy of up to 98.72% which has been increased by applying better learning methods. Farmers can quickly identify 36 common diseases with a little instruction for 14 plant categories, enabling them to take prompt preventive measures using the proposed method.