Segmentation of Multiple Tree Leaves Pictures with Natural Backgrounds using Deep Learning for Image-Based Agriculture Applications

The crop water stress index (CWSI) is one of the parameters measured in deficit irrigation and it is obtained from crop canopy temperature. However, image segmentation is required for non-leaf region exclusion in temperature measurement, as it is critical to obtain the temperature values for the calculation of the CWSI. To this end, two image-segmentation models based on support vector machine (SVM) and deep learning have been studied in this article. The models have been trained with different parameters (encoder depth, optimizer, learning rate, weight decay, validation frequency and validation patience), and several indicators (accuracy, precision, recall and F-1 score/dice coefficient), as well as prediction, training and data preparation times are discussed. The results of the F-1 score indicator are 83.11% for SVM and 86.27% for deep-learning models. More accurate results are expected for the deep-learning model by increasing the dataset, whereas the SVM model is worthwhile in terms of reduced data preparation times.