Method for estimating leaf coverage in strawberry plants using digital image processing

ABSTRACT In farming the measurement of leaf coverage is considered as an exhaustive task for the researchers due to most of the time they do not have access to the adequate tool for this purpose. A new algorithm, implemented in this investigation, allows to estimate by means of a non-destructive method, the leaf coverage value of strawberry plants (fragaria x ananassa) of the cultivar Albion in the Cajicá region, Colombia, by using digital image processing techniques ( DPI). The DPI based technique includes the smoothing, dilatation, contour detection, threshold and edges detection operations. The image acquisition system was conducted by means of photographic images in plants in study, directly from the beds of the crop and the captures were subsequently processed through the proposed algorithm. The obtained results show the measured values of the plants leaf coverage in cm2, with up to 90% of accuracy. This system gives an important contribution to the crop evolution analysis by computational tools, making easier the monitoring work