ESG-YOLO: An Efficient Object Detection Algorithm for Transplant Quality Assessment of Field-Grown Tomato Seedlings Based on YOLOv8n

Intelligent detection of tomato seedling transplant quality represents a core technology for advancing agricultural automation. However, in practical applications, existing algorithms still face numerous technical challenges, particularly with prominent issues of false detections and missed detections during recognition. To address these challenges, we developed the ESG-YOLO object detection model and successfully deployed it on edge devices, enabling real-time assessment of tomato seedling transplanting quality. Our methodology integrates three key innovations: First, an EMA (Efficient Multi-scale Attention) module is embedded within the YOLOv8 neck network to suppress interference from redundant information and enhance morphological focus on seedlings. Second, the feature fusion network is reconstructed using a GSConv-based Slim-neck architecture, achieving a lightweight neck structure compatible with edge deployment. Finally, optimization employs the GIoU (Generalized Intersection over Union) loss function to precisely localize seedling position and morphology, thereby reducing false detection and missed detection. The experimental results demonstrate that our ESG-YOLO model achieves a mean average precision mAP of 97.4%, surpassing lightweight models including YOLOv3-tiny, YOLOv5n, YOLOv7-tiny, and YOLOv8n in precision, with improvements of 9.3, 7.2, 5.7, and 2.2%, respectively. Notably, for detecting key yield-impacting categories such as “exposed seedlings” and “missed hills”, the average precision (AP) values reach 98.8 and 94.0%, respectively. To validate the model’s effectiveness on edge devices, the ESG-YOLO model was deployed on an NVIDIA Jetson TX2 NX platform, achieving a frame rate of 18.0 FPS for efficient detection of tomato seedling transplanting quality. This model provides technical support for transplanting performance assessment, enabling quality control and enhanced vegetable yield, thus actively contributing to smart agriculture initiatives.