Machine Learning-Based Morphological Classification and Diversity Analysis of Ornamental Pumpkin Seeds

Ornamental pumpkin (<i>Cucurbita pepo</i> L. var. <i>ovifera</i>) seeds are highly morphologically variable, and their classification is hence a complex task for the seed industry. Efficient and accurate classification is critical for agricultural production, breeding programs, and seed sorting for commerce. This study employs machine learning models-Random Forest (RF), LightGBM, and k-Nearest Neighbors (KNN)-to classify ornamental pumpkin seeds based on their morphological (mass, elongation, width, thickness) and colorimetric characteristics (L*, a*, b* values from CIELAB color space). Prior to model training, the data set was preprocessed through normalization and balancing to enhance classification performance. In this study, six different types of ornamental pumpkin seeds were used, with a total of 900 (150 each of SDE0619, SDE1020, SDE1620, SDE2621, SDE4521, and SDE7721). The classification performance of the models was evaluated using different metrics, such as Accuracy, Balanced Accuracy, Precision, Recall, F1 Score, Matthews Correlation Coefficient (MCC), and Cohen's Kappa. Among the tested models, the RF model performed best, with Accuracy of 0.959, Balanced Accuracy of 0.961, Precision (Macro) of 0.962, Recall (Macro) of 0.961, F1 Score (Macro) of 0.961, MCC of 0.951, and Cohen's Kappa of 0.951. In contrast, the worst classification performance of the tested models was with the KNN model across all the evaluation metrics. These outcomes reflect the potential of machine learning-based approaches for seed classification automation, error minimization in seed classification, and maximization of efficiency in the seed industry. The high classification performance of the Random Forest model with 95.9% accuracy and 0.951 MCC value shows that artificial intelligence-based automatic classification of ornamental pumpkin seeds according to their morphological and colorimetric characteristics can make significant contributions to the seed industry, while the integration of this approach into seed sorting and quality determination processes can enable the creation of effective breeding schemes for optimum seed selection by maximizing the accuracy of agricultural processes.