Real-Time Eggplant Leaf Disease Diagnosis Using Image Classification

Abstract

Eggplant is an important horticultural crop whose productivity is often affected by various leaf diseases that reduce crop quality and yield. Manual identification of plant diseases relies heavily on human observation and experience, making it time-consuming and prone to misclassification, especially when symptoms appear visually similar. The system employed a convolutional neural network/transfer learning model to identify eggplant leaf diseases accurately and efficiently. The system utilizes a deep learning model trained on a dataset of 3,551 leaf images categorized into seven disease classes and one healthy class. Image preprocessing and augmentation techniques were applied to improve model performance and generalization. Experimental evaluation showed that the proposed model achieved a testing accuracy of approximately 82% with balanced precision and recall across all categories, indicating stable classification performance. The trained model was integrated into a web-based application that allows users to upload leaf images and obtain real-time diagnostic results along with recommended handling information. The findings demonstrate that the proposed system provides a practical and reliable solution for early disease detection and supports more efficient agricultural management. Future development may include expanding dataset diversity, improving model robustness, and deploying mobile-based applications to enhance accessibility and scalability in precision agriculture.