Leaf Analyzer: A fully automated and open-source tool for high-throughput leaf trait measurement

Abstract

Accurate and efficient leaf trait measurement is essential for plant phenotyping, agronomy, and ecological studies. In this work, we introduce Leaf Analyzer, a novel open-source, fully automated computer vision-based tool for high-throughput leaf morphological trait measurement such as leaf area, dimensions, perimeter, count, and percent damage. Unlike existing methods that rely on strong foreground-background contrast or controlled imaging conditions, Leaf Analyzer employs an unsupervised clustering approach based on the K-means++ clustering algorithm and a novel Leaf Background Separation (LBS) feature, which combines the L∗ and b∗ channels from CIEL∗a∗b∗ color space and the saturation channel from HSV color space. The proposed method and the LBS feature can effectively distinguish leaves from the background across varying lighting conditions, leaf colors, and camera orientations. To evaluate the performance of the new software, we conducted comprehensive quantitative and qualitative comparison experiments with two widely used software tools — Petiole Pro and LeafByte, demonstrating that Leaf Analyzer achieves superior accuracy and consistency, particularly under challenging imaging conditions. Additionally, we explore methods to further enhance measurement precision, including leaf flattening and the integration of supplementary leaf features such as texture features and color specific features. Beyond leaf trait measurement, we showcase the versatility of Leaf Analyzer in a range of applications, including nondestructive plant phenotyping, seed counting, root trait analysis, leaf area measurement for petri dish-grown plants, plant projected silhouette area or crown projection area estimation, leaf damage assessment, and broader plant science applications, making it a valuable tool for researchers working in laboratory and field environments.