Vase-Life Monitoring System for Cut Flowers Using Deep Learning and Multiple Cameras

Here, we developed a vase-life monitoring system (VMS) to automatically and accurately assess the post-harvest quality and vase life (VL) of cut roses. The VMS integrates camera imaging with the YOLOv8 (You Only Look Once version 8) deep learning algorithm to continuously monitor major physiological parameters including flower opening, fresh weight, water uptake, and gray mold disease incidence. Our results showed that the VMS can automatically measure the main physiological factors of cut roses by obtaining precise and consistent data. The values measured for physiology and disease by the VMS closely correlated with those measured by observation (OBS). Additionally, YOLOv8 achieved a high performance in the model by obtaining an object detection accuracy of 90%. Additionally, the mAP0.5 supported the high accuracy of the model in evaluating the VL of cut roses. Regression analysis revealed a strong correlation between the VL, VMS, and OBS. The VMS incorporating the microscope detected physiological and disease factors in the early stages of development. These results show that the plant monitoring system incorporating a microscope is highly effective for evaluating the post-harvest quality of cut roses. The early detection method using the VMS could also be applied to the flower breeding process, which requires rapid measurements of important characteristics of flower species, such as VL and disease resistance, to develop superior cultivars.