diff --git a/models/yolov5l.yaml b/models/yolov5l.yaml
index 31362f876932..19bb18b664a8 100644
--- a/models/yolov5l.yaml
+++ b/models/yolov5l.yaml
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 # YOLOv5 🚀 by Ultralytics, AGPL-3.0 license
 
 # Parameters
+input_channels: 3  # number of input channels, RGB is 3
 nc: 80  # number of classes
 depth_multiple: 1.0  # model depth multiple
 width_multiple: 1.0  # layer channel multiple
diff --git a/models/yolov5m.yaml b/models/yolov5m.yaml
index a76900c5a2e2..6d492821ae6b 100644
--- a/models/yolov5m.yaml
+++ b/models/yolov5m.yaml
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 # YOLOv5 🚀 by Ultralytics, AGPL-3.0 license
 
 # Parameters
+input_channels: 3  # number of input channels, RGB is 3
 nc: 80  # number of classes
 depth_multiple: 0.67  # model depth multiple
 width_multiple: 0.75  # layer channel multiple
diff --git a/models/yolov5n.yaml b/models/yolov5n.yaml
index aba96cfc54f4..558c06210b3d 100644
--- a/models/yolov5n.yaml
+++ b/models/yolov5n.yaml
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 # YOLOv5 🚀 by Ultralytics, AGPL-3.0 license
 
 # Parameters
+input_channels: 3  # number of input channels, RGB is 3
 nc: 80  # number of classes
 depth_multiple: 0.33  # model depth multiple
 width_multiple: 0.25  # layer channel multiple
diff --git a/models/yolov5s.yaml b/models/yolov5s.yaml
index 5d05364c4936..d92e99e2ae04 100644
--- a/models/yolov5s.yaml
+++ b/models/yolov5s.yaml
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 # YOLOv5 🚀 by Ultralytics, AGPL-3.0 license
 
 # Parameters
+input_channels: 3  # number of input channels, RGB is 3
 nc: 80  # number of classes
 depth_multiple: 0.33  # model depth multiple
 width_multiple: 0.50  # layer channel multiple
diff --git a/train.py b/train.py
index 004c8eeda121..9c656c9f28fb 100644
--- a/train.py
+++ b/train.py
@@ -127,14 +127,15 @@ def train(hyp, opt, device, callbacks):  # hyp is path/to/hyp.yaml or hyp dictio
         with torch_distributed_zero_first(LOCAL_RANK):
             weights = attempt_download(weights)  # download if not found locally
         ckpt = torch.load(weights, map_location='cpu')  # load checkpoint to CPU to avoid CUDA memory leak
-        model = Model(cfg or ckpt['model'].yaml, ch=3, nc=nc, anchors=hyp.get('anchors')).to(device)  # create
+        model = Model(cfg or ckpt['model'].yaml, ch=hyp.get('input_channels', 3), nc=nc,
+                      anchors=hyp.get('anchors')).to(device)  # create
         exclude = ['anchor'] if (cfg or hyp.get('anchors')) and not resume else []  # exclude keys
         csd = ckpt['model'].float().state_dict()  # checkpoint state_dict as FP32
         csd = intersect_dicts(csd, model.state_dict(), exclude=exclude)  # intersect
         model.load_state_dict(csd, strict=False)  # load
         LOGGER.info(f'Transferred {len(csd)}/{len(model.state_dict())} items from {weights}')  # report
     else:
-        model = Model(cfg, ch=3, nc=nc, anchors=hyp.get('anchors')).to(device)  # create
+        model = Model(cfg, ch=hyp.get('input_channels', 3), nc=nc, anchors=hyp.get('anchors')).to(device)  # create
     amp = check_amp(model)  # check AMP
 
     # Freeze