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. 2020 Mar 9;10(3):451.
doi: 10.3390/ani10030451.

Remotely Sensed Imagery for Early Detection of Respiratory Disease in Pigs: A Pilot Study

Maria Jorquera-Chavez  1 , Sigfredo Fuentes  1 , Frank R Dunshea  1 , Robyn D Warner  1 , Tomas Poblete  1 , Rebecca S Morrison  2 , Ellen C Jongman  3
Affiliations

Remotely Sensed Imagery for Early Detection of Respiratory Disease in Pigs: A Pilot Study

Maria Jorquera-Chavez et al. Animals (Basel). .

Abstract

Respiratory diseases are a major problem in the pig industry worldwide. Due to the impact of these diseases, the early identification of infected herds is essential. Computer vision technology, using RGB (red, green and blue) and thermal infrared imagery, can assist the early detection of changes in animal physiology related to these and other diseases. This pilot study aimed to identify whether these techniques are a useful tool to detect early changes of eye and ear-base temperature, heart rate and respiration rate in pigs that were challenged with Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae. Clinical observations and imagery were analysed, comparing data obtained from animals that showed some signs of illness with data from animals that showed no signs of ill health. Highly significant differences (p < 0.05) were observed between sick and healthy pigs in heart rate, eye and ear temperature, with higher heart rate and higher temperatures in sick pigs. The largest change in temperature and heart rate remotely measured was observed around 4-6 h before signs of clinical illness were observed by the skilled technicians. These data suggest that computer vision techniques could be a useful tool to detect indicators of disease before the symptoms can be observed by stock people, assisting the early detection and control of respiratory diseases in pigs, promoting further research to study the capability and possible uses of this technology for on farm monitoring and management.

Keywords: animal health; animal monitoring; computer vision; imagery; physiological changes; symptoms.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Regions of interest (ROIs) for image processing; (a) eye area (for eye-temperature), (b) base of ear (for ear-base temperature), (c) eye area (for heart rate) and (d) nose area (for respiration rate).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Average measurements of temperature (degrees Celsius) in “sick” and “healthy” animals at all 4 time points on the day after the challenge. On (a) eye temperature. On (b) ear-base temperature.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Average measurements of heart rate (beats per minute) in “sick” and “healthy” animals at all 4 time points on the day after the challenge.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Average measurements of respiration rate (breath per minute) in “sick” and “healthy” animals at all 4 time points during the day after the challenge.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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