Real-Time Identification of Strawberry Pests and Diseases Using an Improved YOLOv8 Algorithm

Abstract

Strawberry crops are susceptible to a wide range of pests and diseases, some of which are insidious and diverse due to the shortness of strawberry plants, and they pose significant challenges to accurate detection. Although deep learning-based techniques to detect crop pests and diseases are effective in addressing these challenges, determining how to find the optimal balance between accuracy, speed, and computation remains a key issue for real-time detection. In this paper, we propose a series of improved algorithms based on the YOLOv8 model for strawberry disease detection. These include improvements to the Convolutional Block Attention Module (CBAM), Super-Lightweight Dynamic Upsampling Operator (DySample), and Omni-Dimensional Dynamic Convolution (ODConv). In experiments, the accuracy of these methods reached 97.519%, 98.028%, and 95.363%, respectively, and the F1 evaluation values reached 96.852%, 97.086%, and 95.181%, demonstrating significant improvement compared to the original YOLOv8 model. Among the three improvements, the improved model based on CBAM has the best performance in training stability and convergence, and the change in each index is relatively smooth. The model is accelerated by TensorRT, which achieves fast inference through highly optimized GPU computation, improving the real-time identification of strawberry diseases. The model has been deployed in the cloud, and the developed client can be accessed by calling the API. The feasibility and effectiveness of the system have been verified, providing an important reference for the intelligent research and application of strawberry disease identification.