Investigation of Puccinia triticina contagion on wheat leaves using swept source optical coherence tomography

摘要

We present an investigation on applicability of swept-source optical coherence tomography (SSOCT) to examine the internal structures of plant leaves. This study helps to identify the growth and spread of the leaf rust disease in leaves of wheat plants, caused by Puccinia triticina. The epidermal cell layer and parenchyma cell layer of the acquired OCT images are correlated with the histological images to show distinctive leaf morphological boundaries. In the OCT images, the thickness of the parenchyma cell layer in healthy and infected samples are compared and analyzed. Accurate morphological and quantitative information are obtained with our developed system for diagnostic evaluations of plant diseases. These results indicate that OCT modality is suitable for inspection of different categories of leaves at different stages of disease progression which may potentially lead to significant cost savings and better control of the spread of disease.