Farm Animals Monitoring Tool based on Image Processing Technique

Carlos Eduardo Bites Romanini, Stefano Viazzi, Federica Borgonovo, Annamaria Costa, Marcella Guarino, Toon Leroy, Daniel Berckmans

2012

Abstract

This paper describes camera based systems and image processing technique as a monitoring tool for farm animals. Image based systems were used to automatic measure the activity and occupation indexes of piglets and broilers chickens. Experimental results were presented in a form of two case studies: 1) Understanding the effect of environmental enrichment in piglet’s activities - the study was conducted in two selected pens of a fattening room. The activity of 14 Dalland piglets was recorded continuously for a total of 5 days. On the second day environmental enrichments were introduced in the form of two wooden logs and a chain. 2) Understanding the effect of light intensity on broiler chicken’s activities - in a total of 62 Ross 308 broiler chickens (equal number of female and male) kept on a 16 h photoperiod treatments. The light intensity schedule varied according to the age of the chickens. For chickens with 15 days old the light-dark schedule alternate every 4 hours between 5 lx and 100 lx. For chickens with around 21 and 40 days old the light conditions alternated every 2 hours. In both study cases the activity index recorded the total amount of movement at a group level. Piglets increased their movements and playing behaviour when environmental enrichments (wood logs and chain) were introduced to the pens. Broiler chickens showed higher activity indexes during periods of 100 lx than 5 lx when light intensity alternated.

References

  1. Berckmans, D. (2008). "Precision livestock farming (plf) - preface." Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 62(1): 1-1.
  2. Berk, J., 1997. Influence of light intensity on light-choice by broilers. In: Proceedings of the Fifth European Symposium on Poultry Welfare. pp. 46-48.
  3. Boshouwers, F.M.G., Nicaise, E., 1993. Artificial light sources and their influences on physical activity and energy expenditure of laying hens. Br. Poult. Sci. 34, 11-19.
  4. Cangar, O., Aerts, J. M., Buyse, J. and Berckmans, D. (2008). "Quantification of the spatial distribution of surface temperatures of broilers." Poultry Science 87(12): 2493-2499.
  5. Cherry, P., Barwick, M.W., 1962. The effect of light on broiler growth. 1. Light intensity and colour. Br. Poult. Sci. 3, 31-39.
  6. Newberry, R.C., Hunt, J.R., Gardiner, E.E., 1988. Influence of light intensity on behaviour and performance of broiler chickens. Poult. Sci. 67, 1025.
  7. Frost, A. R., Parsons, D. J., Stacey, K. F., Robertson, A. P., Welch, S. K., Filmer, D. and Fothergill, A. (2003). "Progress towards the development of an integrated management system for broiler chicken production." Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 39(3): 227-240.
  8. Kristensen, H.H., Aerts, J.M., Leroy, T., Wathes, C.M., Berckmans, D. (2006). Modelling the dynamic activity of broiler chickens in response to step-wise changes in light intensity. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 101: 125-143.
  9. Leroy, T., Borgonovo, F., Costa, A., Aerts, J.-M., Guarino, M. and Berckmans, D. (2008). Real-time measurament of pig activity in practical conditions. ASABE, American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers.
  10. Leroy, T., Stroobants, S., Aerts, J. M., D'hooge, R. and Berckmans, D. (2009). "Automatic analysis of altered gait in arylsulphatase a-deficient mice in the open field." Behavior Research Methods 41(3): 787-794.
  11. Leroy, T., Vranken, E., Van Brecht, A., Struelens, E., Sonck, B. and Berckmans, D. (2006). A computer vision method for on-line behavioral quantification of individually caged poultry, Amer soc agricultural & biological engineers.
  12. Nielsen, B.L., Litherland, M., Nøddegaard, F., 2004. Effects of qualitative and quantitative feed restriction on the activity of broiler chickens. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. 83, 309-323.
  13. Otsu, N. (1979). "Threshold selection method from gray-level histograms." IEEE Transactions on Systems Man and Cybernetics 9(1): 62-66.
  14. Reiter, K., Bessei, W., 1995. In: Rutter, S.M., Rushen, J., Randle, H.D., Eddison, J.C. (Eds.), Influence of Running on Leg Weakness of Slow and Fast Growing Broilers. UFAW, pp. 211-213.
Download


Paper Citation


in Harvard Style

Bites Romanini C., Viazzi S., Borgonovo F., Costa A., Guarino M., Leroy T. and Berckmans D. (2012). Farm Animals Monitoring Tool based on Image Processing Technique . In Proceedings of the International Workshop on Veterinary Biosignals and Biodevices - Volume 1: VBB, (BIOSTEC 2012) ISBN 978-989-8425-94-2, pages 60-68. DOI: 10.5220/0003882100600068


in Bibtex Style

@conference{vbb12,
author={Carlos Eduardo Bites Romanini and Stefano Viazzi and Federica Borgonovo and Annamaria Costa and Marcella Guarino and Toon Leroy and Daniel Berckmans},
title={Farm Animals Monitoring Tool based on Image Processing Technique},
booktitle={Proceedings of the International Workshop on Veterinary Biosignals and Biodevices - Volume 1: VBB, (BIOSTEC 2012)},
year={2012},
pages={60-68},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0003882100600068},
isbn={978-989-8425-94-2},
}


in EndNote Style

TY - CONF
JO - Proceedings of the International Workshop on Veterinary Biosignals and Biodevices - Volume 1: VBB, (BIOSTEC 2012)
TI - Farm Animals Monitoring Tool based on Image Processing Technique
SN - 978-989-8425-94-2
AU - Bites Romanini C.
AU - Viazzi S.
AU - Borgonovo F.
AU - Costa A.
AU - Guarino M.
AU - Leroy T.
AU - Berckmans D.
PY - 2012
SP - 60
EP - 68
DO - 10.5220/0003882100600068