Abstract
The cultivation of grapes encounters various challenges, such as the presence of pests and diseases, which have the potential to considerably diminish agricultural productivity. Plant diseases pose a significant impediment, resulting in diminished agricultural productivity and economic setbacks, thereby affecting the quality of crop yields. Hence, the precise and timely identification of plant diseases holds significant importance. This study employs a Convolutional neural network (CNN) with and without data augmentation, in addition to a DCNN Classifier model based on VGG16, to classify grape leaf diseases. A publicly available dataset is utilized for the purpose of investigating diseases affecting grape leaves. The DCNN Classifier Model successfully utilizes the strengths of the VGG16 model and modifies it by incorporating supplementary layers to enhance its performance and ability to generalize. Systematic evaluation of metrics, such as accuracy and F1-score, is performed. With training and test accuracy rates of 99.18 and 99.06%, respectively, the DCNN Classifier model does a better job than the CNN models used in this investigation. The findings demonstrate that the DCNN Classifier model, utilizing the VGG16 architecture and incorporating three supplementary CNN layers, exhibits superior performance. Also, the fact that the DCNN Classifier model works well as a decision support system for farmers is shown by the fact that it can quickly and accurately identify grape diseases, making it easier to take steps to stop them. The results of this study provide support for the reliability of the DCNN classifier model and its potential utility in the field of agriculture.