Drones in Plant Disease Assessment, Efficient Monitoring, and Detection: A Way Forward to Smart Agriculture
Aqleem Abbas,
Zhenhao Zhang,
Hongxia Zheng,
Mohammad Murtaza Alami,
Abdulmajeed F. Alrefaei,
Qamar Abbas,
Syed Atif Hasan Naqvi,
Muhammad Junaid Rao,
Walid F. A. Mosa,
Qamar Abbas,
Azhar Hussain,
Muhammad Zeeshan Hassan,
Lei Zhou
Affiliations
Aqleem Abbas
State Key Laboratory for Managing Biotic and Chemical Threats to the Quality and Safety of Agro-Products, Institute of Agro-Product Safety and Nutrition, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou 310021, China
Zhenhao Zhang
State Key Laboratory for Managing Biotic and Chemical Threats to the Quality and Safety of Agro-Products, Institute of Agro-Product Safety and Nutrition, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou 310021, China
Hongxia Zheng
State Key Laboratory for Managing Biotic and Chemical Threats to the Quality and Safety of Agro-Products, Institute of Agro-Product Safety and Nutrition, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou 310021, China
Mohammad Murtaza Alami
Department of Crop Cultivation and Farming System, College of Plant Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China
Abdulmajeed F. Alrefaei
Department of Biology, Jamoum University Collage, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah 21955, Saudi Arabia
Qamar Abbas
Department of Computer Sciences, University of Karachi, Karachi 75270, Pakistan
Syed Atif Hasan Naqvi
Department of Plant Pathology, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan 60800, Pakistan
Muhammad Junaid Rao
State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Subtropical Agro-Bioresources, Guangxi Key Laboratory of Sugarcane Biology, College of Agriculture, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China
Walid F. A. Mosa
Plant Production Department (Horticulture-Pomology), Faculty of Agriculture, Saba Basha, Alexandria University, Alexandria 21531, Egypt
Qamar Abbas
Department of Plant Sciences, Karakoram International University, Gilgit 15100, Pakistan
Azhar Hussain
Department of Agriculture and Food Technology, Karakoram International University, Gilgit 15100, Pakistan
Muhammad Zeeshan Hassan
Department of Plant Pathology, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan 60800, Pakistan
Lei Zhou
State Key Laboratory for Managing Biotic and Chemical Threats to the Quality and Safety of Agro-Products, Institute of Agro-Product Safety and Nutrition, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou 310021, China
Plant diseases are one of the major threats to global food production. Efficient monitoring and detection of plant pathogens are instrumental in restricting and effectively managing the spread of the disease and reducing the cost of pesticides. Traditional, molecular, and serological methods that are widely used for plant disease detection are often ineffective if not applied during the initial stages of pathogenesis, when no or very weak symptoms appear. Moreover, they are almost useless in acquiring spatialized diagnostic results on plant diseases. On the other hand, remote sensing (RS) techniques utilizing drones are very effective for the rapid identification of plant diseases in their early stages. Currently, drones, play a pivotal role in the monitoring of plant pathogen spread, detection, and diagnosis to ensure crops’ health status. The advantages of drone technology include high spatial resolution (as several sensors are carried aboard), high efficiency, usage flexibility, and more significantly, quick detection of plant diseases across a large area with low cost, reliability, and provision of high-resolution data. Drone technology employs an automated procedure that begins with gathering images of diseased plants using various sensors and cameras. After extracting features, image processing approaches use the appropriate traditional machine learning or deep learning algorithms. Features are extracted from images of leaves using edge detection and histogram equalization methods. Drones have many potential uses in agriculture, including reducing manual labor and increasing productivity. Drones may be able to provide early warning of plant diseases, allowing farmers to prevent costly crop failures.
