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Estimating Broiler Breeder Welfare Using Image Analysis
Published by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, St. Joseph, Michigan www.asabe.org
Citation: 7th World Congress on Computers in Agriculture Conference Proceedings, 22-24 June 2009, Reno, Nevada (electronic only) 711P0409e.(doi:10.13031/2013.29038)Authors: I A Naas, M Lagná, M Mollo Neto
Keywords: Animal welfare, image analysis, clusters analysis.
The research proposes a methodology for estimating broiler breeder thermal welfare. Birds behavioral responses are known as an important indication of well-being. The continuous video recording of a flock analyzed may offer interesting evidences of thermal comfort as well as other indications of welfare, and automation of the analyzing process is vital for getting knowledge, as a person watching the video and recording specific behaviors may induce to certain degree of error. An algorithm for classifying specific broiler breeder behavior was developed. Videos were recorded over three boxes were 30 breeder were reared. The boxes were mounted inside an environmental chamber were ambient temperature varied from cold to hot. Digital images were processed based on the number of pixels, according to their light intensity variation and binary contrast allowing a sequence of behaviors related to welfare. The system used the default of x, y coordinates, where x represents the horizontal distance from the top left of the work area to the point P, and y is the vertical distance. The video image was observed and a grid was developed for identifying the area the birds stayed. The sequence was analyzed frame by frame confronting the data with specific adopted thermal neutral rearing standards. The grid mask overlapped the real bird image. The resulting image after the analysis allows the visualization of cluster, as birds in flock behave in certain patterns.
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