Document Type

Honors Project

Publication Date

Spring 4-7-2026

Abstract

Powdery Mildew is a common fungus that infects a multitude of plants. This project will be working with Podosphaera Xanthii, the fungal pathogen that causes powdery mildew in cucurbits. Cucurbitaceae is a plant family that includes squash, pumpkins, melons and watermelons. Powdery mildew ends up significantly reducing the plants yield and infection causes an economic loss for growers which poses a great threat to the farmer’s lively hood. Powdery mildew is also extremely contagious and spreads rapidly to nearby plants. It can be absolutely decimating to populations. So there has been a push to find methods to control the spread of powdery mildew. With the help of This project is looking at different fungicide treatments, both stand alone and combinations to help reduce the infection of powdery. Then rating the images using the Horsfall Barratt system to provide percentage readings of infection rates. After images used for ratings were uploaded into AI models to then evaluate if they can be used for ratings in the near future.

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