Early Detection of Branched Broomrape (Phelipanche ramosa) Infestation in Tomato Crops Using Leaf Spectral Analysis and Machine Learning

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Narimani, Mohammadreza, Pourreza, Alireza, Moghimi, Ali, Farajpoor, Parastoo, Jafarbiglu, Hamid, Mesgaran, Mohsen B.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866918141284581376
author Narimani, Mohammadreza
Pourreza, Alireza
Moghimi, Ali
Farajpoor, Parastoo
Jafarbiglu, Hamid
Mesgaran, Mohsen B.
author_facet Narimani, Mohammadreza
Pourreza, Alireza
Moghimi, Ali
Farajpoor, Parastoo
Jafarbiglu, Hamid
Mesgaran, Mohsen B.
contents Branched broomrape (Phelipanche ramosa) is a chlorophyll-deficient parasitic weed that threatens tomato production by extracting nutrients from the host. We investigate early detection using leaf-level spectral reflectance (400-2500 nm) and ensemble machine learning. In a field experiment in Woodland, California, we tracked 300 tomato plants across growth stages defined by growing degree days (GDD). Leaf reflectance was acquired with a portable spectrometer and preprocessed (band denoising, 1 nm interpolation, Savitzky-Golay smoothing, correlation-based band reduction). Clear class differences were observed near 1500 nm and 2000 nm water absorption features, consistent with reduced leaf water content in infected plants at early stages. An ensemble combining Random Forest, XGBoost, SVM with RBF kernel, and Naive Bayes achieved 89% accuracy at 585 GDD, with recalls of 0.86 (infected) and 0.93 (noninfected). Accuracy declined at later stages (e.g., 69% at 1568 GDD), likely due to senescence and weed interference. Despite the small number of infected plants and environmental confounders, results show that proximal sensing with ensemble learning enables timely detection of broomrape before canopy symptoms are visible, supporting targeted interventions and reduced yield losses.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_12074
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Early Detection of Branched Broomrape (Phelipanche ramosa) Infestation in Tomato Crops Using Leaf Spectral Analysis and Machine Learning
Narimani, Mohammadreza
Pourreza, Alireza
Moghimi, Ali
Farajpoor, Parastoo
Jafarbiglu, Hamid
Mesgaran, Mohsen B.
Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Signal Processing
68T07, 68T45, 68U10
I.5.4; I.4.6; I.2.6
Branched broomrape (Phelipanche ramosa) is a chlorophyll-deficient parasitic weed that threatens tomato production by extracting nutrients from the host. We investigate early detection using leaf-level spectral reflectance (400-2500 nm) and ensemble machine learning. In a field experiment in Woodland, California, we tracked 300 tomato plants across growth stages defined by growing degree days (GDD). Leaf reflectance was acquired with a portable spectrometer and preprocessed (band denoising, 1 nm interpolation, Savitzky-Golay smoothing, correlation-based band reduction). Clear class differences were observed near 1500 nm and 2000 nm water absorption features, consistent with reduced leaf water content in infected plants at early stages. An ensemble combining Random Forest, XGBoost, SVM with RBF kernel, and Naive Bayes achieved 89% accuracy at 585 GDD, with recalls of 0.86 (infected) and 0.93 (noninfected). Accuracy declined at later stages (e.g., 69% at 1568 GDD), likely due to senescence and weed interference. Despite the small number of infected plants and environmental confounders, results show that proximal sensing with ensemble learning enables timely detection of broomrape before canopy symptoms are visible, supporting targeted interventions and reduced yield losses.
title Early Detection of Branched Broomrape (Phelipanche ramosa) Infestation in Tomato Crops Using Leaf Spectral Analysis and Machine Learning
topic Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Signal Processing
68T07, 68T45, 68U10
I.5.4; I.4.6; I.2.6
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.12074