Monitoring pesticide residue reduction in tomatoes based on processing thermal imagery

Background To protect greenhouse crops from pests, millions of liters of toxic solutions are used each year. To ensure food security, it is very important to reduce the consumption of these toxins. Monitoring the pesticide residue in plants and fruits is a vital research topic. In this study, the magnitude and percentage of the contaminated area with the pesticide were evaluated in tomato fruit after treating tomatoes using a High-Voltage Electric Field (HVEF). The parameters related to the HVEF for monitoring pesticide residue changes have been assessed to simulate variable scenarios of the application of pesticides on land. Using an image processing technique, a percentage of pesticide residue reduction was measured in MATLAB. Results The effect of independent parameters was significantly different, no interaction was significant and it revealed that the penetration of the pesticide does not affect the performance of the HVEF to reduce the residue in tomato samples. Conclusion The application of HVEF for 10 min is the best performance of the device to reduce pesticide residues. The percentage of pesticide residue reduction, which is an efficient way to monitor pesticide residues in tomatoes utilizing image processing techniques, can also be established.