Location: Crop Germplasm Research
Project Number: 3091-21000-046-012-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Aug 15, 2025
End Date: Jun 30, 2026
Objective:
To create an image library of biotic and abiotic diseases on pecan foliage; to develop an application using AI to classify pecan foliar diseases and quantify disease severity.
Approach:
Pecan leaflets with disease and/or pest symptoms will be scouted and harvested from the USDA Pecan Breeding Program and the National Collection of Genetic Resources. The samples will be imaged on a WideTEK 25 scanner. The image data will then be shared through the USDA SciNET supercomputing resource. An AI application using deep learning will be co-developed and adapted to the model pecan system. Synthetic images will be generated to further train the model. Validation will be performed to determine reliability of the final AI product.