Pl@ntNet is rolling out its new ‘Diseases and Pests’ feature

What are these spots on the leaves of my rapeseed? And what about this caterpillar – is it a threat to my lettuce crop? Recognising the symptoms affecting a plant at an early stage can be complex and often requires specialist knowledge of botany, plant pathology or ecology. However, identifying the disease or pest affecting the plant is the first step towards protecting it more effectively.

For professionals in the agricultural sector, having tools to facilitate this initial identification stage can help to better assess the health status of crops. With this in mind, the Pl@ntNet app now offers a new feature designed to identify diseases and pests from a photograph.

Developed as part of the Pl@ntAgroEco project, supported by the PEPR Agroecology and Digital programme, the ‘Diseases & Pests’ feature is based on machine learning using a large dataset dedicated to plant diseases. The aim is to enable the artificial intelligence model to recognise visual characteristics associated with different symptoms and link them to the corresponding diseases.

Following a testing phase involving experts in plant pathology, the feature has been available to the general public since February 2026 and can identify 395 diseases and pests across around 100 plant species. The aim is to gradually increase this number whilst maintaining performance and a high degree of certainty in the identifications.

Pl@ntNet already enables users to identify a plant from a photograph amongst a very large number of species. Led by a consortium comprising CIRAD, INRAE, Inria and the IRD, the platform now has over 25 million users and enables the identification of more than 85,000 species.

The app is therefore expanding its scope to address plant health issues and offers a tool accessible to all professionals in the agricultural sector: farmers, technicians, plant pathologists, agricultural engineers and, more broadly, all users!

Ultimately, the observations collected by users will also be able to contribute to a participatory epidemiological surveillance programme, just as Pl@ntNet already does for monitoring biodiversity.

The Pl@ntNet app is available on the App Store and Google Play, as well as in a web version. To use the ‘Diseases & Pests’ feature, simply select the ‘Diseases and Pests’ flora. It couldn’t be simpler:

• On the home screen, tap the name of the flora displayed at the top.
• In the ‘Change flora’ section, select ‘Specific flora’.
• Scroll down the list and tap ‘Diseases and Pests’.