Rosette Plant Centre Detection and Tracking Using YOLO: An Efficient Deep Learning Approach

The precise detection of plant centres is important for growth monitoring, enabling the continuous tracking of plant development to discern the influence of diverse factors. It holds significance for automated systems like robotic harvesting, facilitating machines in locating and engaging with plants. In this paper, we explore the YOLOv4 (You Only Look Once) real-time neural network detector for plant centre detection. Our dataset, comprising over 12,000 images from 151 Arabidopsis thaliana accessions, is used to fine-tune the model. Evaluation of the dataset reveals the model's proficiency in centre detection across various accessions, boasting an mAP of 99.79% at a 50 % IoU threshold. The model demonstrates real-time processing capabilities, achieving a frame rate of approximately 50 FPS. This outcome underscores its rapid and efficient analysis of video or image data, showcasing practical utility in time-sensitive applications.