Evaluating YOLO Models for Grape Moth Detection in Insect Traps

The grape moth is a common pest that affects grapevines by consuming both fruit and foliage, rendering grapes deformed and unsellable. Integrated pest management for the grape moth heavily relies on pheromone traps, which serve a crucial function by identifying and tracking adult moth populations. This information is then used to determine the most appropriate time and method for implementing other control techniques. This study aims to find the best method for detecting small insects. We evaluate the following recent YOLO models: v5, v6, v7, and v8 for detecting and counting grape moths in insect traps. The best performance was achieved by YOLOv8, with an average precision of 92.4% and a counting error of 8.1%.