HybridTransferNet: soil image classification through comprehensive evaluation for crop suggestion

Soil image classification is a critical task within the realms of agriculture and environmental applications. In recent years, the integration of deep learning has sparked significant interest in image-based soil classification. Transfer learning, a well-established technique in image classification, involves finetuning a pre-trained model on a specific dataset. However, conventional transfer learning methods typically focus solely on fine-tuning the final layer of the pre-trained model, which may not suffice to attain high performance on a new task. HybridTransferNet, a unique hybrid transfer learning approach designed for soil classification based on images is proposed in this paper. HybridTransferNet goes beyond the conventional approach by finetuning not only the final layer but also a select number of earlier layers in a pre-trained ResNet50 model. This extension results in substantially enhanced ability to classify when compared to standard transfer learning methods. Our evaluation of HybridTransferNet, conducted on a soil classification dataset, encompasses the reporting of various performance indicators, such as the F1 score, recall, accuracy, and precision. Our findings from experiments highlight HybridTransferNet's advantages over conventional transfer learning strategies, establishing it as a state-of-the-art solution in the domain of soil classification.