Application of image processing and soft computing strategies for non-destructive estimation of plum leaf area

Plant leaf area (LA) is a key metric in plant monitoring programs. Machine learning methods were used in this study to estimate the LA of four plum genotypes, including three greengage genotypes (Prunus domestica [subsp. italica var. claudiana.]) and a single myrobalan plum (prunus ceracifera), using leaf length (L) and width (W) values. To develop reliable models, 5548 leaves were subjected to experiments in two different years, 2019 and 2021. Image processing technique was used to extract dimensional leaf features, which were then fed into Linear Multivariate Regression (LMR), Support Vector Regression (SVR), Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), and the Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS). Model evaluation on 2019 data revealed that the LMR structure LA = 0.007+0.687 L×W was the most accurate among the various LMR structures, with R(2) = 0.9955 and Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) = 0.404. In this case, the linear kernel-based SVR yielded an R(2) of 0.9955 and an RMSE of 0.4871. The ANN (R(2) = 0.9969; RMSE = 0.3420) and ANFIS (R(2) = 0.9971; RMSE = 0.3240) models demonstrated greater accuracy than the LMR and SVR models. Evaluating the models mentioned above on data from various genotypes in 2021 proved their applicability for estimating LA with high accuracy in subsequent years. In another research segment, LA prediction models were developed using data from 2021, and evaluations demonstrated the superior performance of ANN and ANFIS compared to LMR and SVR models. ANFIS, ANN, LMR, and SVR exhibited R(2) values of 0.9971, 0.9969, 0.9950, and 0.9948, respectively. It was concluded that by combining image analysis and modeling through ANFIS, a highly accurate smart non-destructive LA measurement system could be developed.