Identification of basal stem rot disease in oil palm tree using thermal imaging technique

Basal stem rot (BSR), caused by Ganoderma boninense is known as one of the deadliest diseases in the oil palm plantations in Southeast Asia. Ganoderma could reduce the productivity of oil palm plantations and possibly reduce the market value of palm oil in Malaysia. The available technique of BSR detection is time-consuming and human dependence. This study focuses on detecting the oil palm tree infected by BSR using thermal imaging technique. In order to find a suitable time to capture the thermal images, thermal images of canopy and trunk sections of the oil palm trees from healthy and BSR-infected trees were captured in the morning (9 to 12 pm) and afternoon (12 to 3 pm) session. The images were pre-processed using FLIR QuickReport 1.2 (FLIR Systems, Inc., Oregon, United States). The images were then processed using MATLAB software (Version R2016b, The MathWorks Inc., Massachusetts, United States) to extract pixel value representing thermal properties of the trees. After that, statistical analysis was done using these pixel values. The result from T-test has shown that thermal images taken at canopy section during the afternoon session have a significant difference (α