Drone-Based Multispectral Imaging and Deep Learning for Timely Detection of Branched Broomrape in Tomato Farms

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Narimani, Mohammadreza, Pourreza, Alireza, Moghimi, Ali, Mesgaran, Mohsen, Farajpoor, Parastoo, Jafarbiglu, Hamid
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Narimani, Mohammadreza
Pourreza, Alireza
Moghimi, Ali
Mesgaran, Mohsen
Farajpoor, Parastoo
Jafarbiglu, Hamid
author_facet Narimani, Mohammadreza
Pourreza, Alireza
Moghimi, Ali
Mesgaran, Mohsen
Farajpoor, Parastoo
Jafarbiglu, Hamid
contents This study addresses the escalating threat of branched broomrape (Phelipanche ramosa) to California's tomato industry, which supplies over 90 percent of U.S. processing tomatoes. The parasite's largely underground life cycle makes early detection difficult, while conventional chemical controls are costly, environmentally harmful, and often ineffective. To address this, we combined drone-based multispectral imagery with Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) deep learning networks, using the Synthetic Minority Over-sampling Technique (SMOTE) to handle class imbalance. Research was conducted on a known broomrape-infested tomato farm in Woodland, Yolo County, CA, across five key growth stages determined by growing degree days (GDD). Multispectral images were processed to isolate tomato canopy reflectance. At 897 GDD, broomrape could be detected with 79.09 percent overall accuracy and 70.36 percent recall without integrating later stages. Incorporating sequential growth stages with LSTM improved detection substantially. The best-performing scenario, which integrated all growth stages with SMOTE augmentation, achieved 88.37 percent overall accuracy and 95.37 percent recall. These results demonstrate the strong potential of temporal multispectral analysis and LSTM networks for early broomrape detection. While further real-world data collection is needed for practical deployment, this study shows that UAV-based multispectral sensing coupled with deep learning could provide a powerful precision agriculture tool to reduce losses and improve sustainability in tomato production.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_09972
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Drone-Based Multispectral Imaging and Deep Learning for Timely Detection of Branched Broomrape in Tomato Farms
Narimani, Mohammadreza
Pourreza, Alireza
Moghimi, Ali
Mesgaran, Mohsen
Farajpoor, Parastoo
Jafarbiglu, Hamid
Image and Video Processing
Artificial Intelligence
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Machine Learning
This study addresses the escalating threat of branched broomrape (Phelipanche ramosa) to California's tomato industry, which supplies over 90 percent of U.S. processing tomatoes. The parasite's largely underground life cycle makes early detection difficult, while conventional chemical controls are costly, environmentally harmful, and often ineffective. To address this, we combined drone-based multispectral imagery with Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) deep learning networks, using the Synthetic Minority Over-sampling Technique (SMOTE) to handle class imbalance. Research was conducted on a known broomrape-infested tomato farm in Woodland, Yolo County, CA, across five key growth stages determined by growing degree days (GDD). Multispectral images were processed to isolate tomato canopy reflectance. At 897 GDD, broomrape could be detected with 79.09 percent overall accuracy and 70.36 percent recall without integrating later stages. Incorporating sequential growth stages with LSTM improved detection substantially. The best-performing scenario, which integrated all growth stages with SMOTE augmentation, achieved 88.37 percent overall accuracy and 95.37 percent recall. These results demonstrate the strong potential of temporal multispectral analysis and LSTM networks for early broomrape detection. While further real-world data collection is needed for practical deployment, this study shows that UAV-based multispectral sensing coupled with deep learning could provide a powerful precision agriculture tool to reduce losses and improve sustainability in tomato production.
title Drone-Based Multispectral Imaging and Deep Learning for Timely Detection of Branched Broomrape in Tomato Farms
topic Image and Video Processing
Artificial Intelligence
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.09972