AUTHOR=Liu Jia , Kan Jingrun , Chen Xinjia , Xu Laixiang , Zheng Xueli , Ahmad Mohammad Nazir , Zhao Junmin 

TITLE=RTCB: an integrated deep learning model for garlic leaf disease identification

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=Volume 16 - 2025

YEAR=2025

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2025.1687300

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2025.1687300

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=ProblemGarlic is a common ingredient that not only enhances the flavor of dishes but also has various beneficial effects and functions for humans. However, its leaf diseases and pests have a serious impact on the growth and yield. Traditional plant leaf disease detection methods have shortcomings, such as high time consumption and low recognition accuracy.MethodologyAs a result, we present a deep learning approach based on an upgraded ResNet18, triplet, convolutional block (RTCB) attention mechanism for recognizing garlic leaf diseases. First, we replace the convolutional layers in the residual block with partial convolutions based on the classic ResNet18 architecture to improve computational efficiency. Then, we introduce triplet attention after the first convolutional layer to enhance the model’s ability to focus on key features. Finally, we add a convolutional block attention mechanism after each residual layer to improve the model’s feature perception.ResultsThe experimental results demonstrate that the proposed model achieves a classification accuracy of 98.90%, which is superior to outstanding deep learning models such as Efficient-v2-B0, MobileOne-S0, OverLoCK-S, EfficientFormer, and MobileMamba. The proposed RTCB has a faster computation speed, higher recognition precision, and stronger generalization ability.ContributionThe proposed approach provides a scalable technical reference for the engineering application of automatic disease monitoring and control in intelligent agriculture. The current strategy is conducive to the deployment of edge computing equipment and has extensive significance and application potential in plant leaf disease detection.