EDISP: a hybrid CNN-ViT framework for robust maize leaf disease detection and classification.

Introduction: Maize is one of the most important food crops in the world, and foliar diseases can lead to significant yield losses if identification is not performed on time. Experts conducting manual inspections find it less effective and more subjective. Deep learning-based approaches utilizing Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) and Vision Transformers (ViTs) have been demonstrated as a viable approach to automate disease diagnosis. Thus, while CNNs fail to capture wider context due to their local feature focus and ViTs need larger datasets and tend to miss finer-grained details. To overcome these limitations, we present EDISP a hybrid framework that connects Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) and Vision Transformers (ViTs) for local feature extraction, as well as global contextual learning. Methods: The EDISP framework brings together the strengths of CNNs and ViTs to overcome their individual weaknesses. It is trained on a dataset that includes both controlled-environment and real-field maize leaf images, which helps it handle different environmental conditions. The data undergoes thorough preprocessing, including normalization, augmentation, and stratified splitting into training, validation, and test sets to support generalization. The CNN focuses on detailed local disease features, while the ViT captures broader contextual information across the maize leaf surfaces. Results: The proposed EDISP model significantly outperforms standalone CNN and ViT Models in multiple performance metrics, achieving an overall classification accuracy of 99.40%, precision of 99.43%, recall of 99.38%, and an F1-score of 99.40%. Experimental results demonstrate that EDISP excels in identifying maize leaf diseases, including Common Rust, Gray Leaf Spot, Northern Leaf Blight, and Healthy leaves, with minimal false positives and negatives. External validation with an independent dataset further highlights the model's robustness and ability to generalize to real-world conditions. Discussion: The EDISP hybrid architecture, integrating CNNs and ViTs, provides a stronger method for accurate, automated maize leaf disease detection. Its robust performance, consistent results on controlled and field datasets shows robustness in diverse environments. However, EDISP's effectiveness may be limited by image quality, lighting, or disease types not seen in training. These results highlight the promise of hybrid deep learning in precision agriculture and offer a scalable solution for disease detection, supporting farmers without expert diagnostic resources.