Kou HongXiang, Zhao YiQiang, Ren Kang, Chen XiaoLi, Lu YongQiang, Wang Dong
The Key Laboratory for Farm Animal Genetic and Utilization of Ministry of Agriculture of China, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Beijing, China.
College of Animal Science and Technology, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun, China.
PLoS One. 2017 Apr 20;12(4):e0175377. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0175377. eCollection 2017.
The body temperature of cattle varies regularly with both the reproductive cycle and disease status. Establishing an automatic method for monitoring body temperature may facilitate better management of reproduction and disease control in cattle. Here, we developed an Automatic Measurement System for Cattle's Surface Temperature (AMSCST) to measure the temperature of metatarsus by attaching a special shell designed to fit the anatomy of cattle's hind leg. Using AMSCST, the surface temperature (ST) on the metatarsus of the hind leg was successively measured during 24 hours a day with an interval of one hour in three tested seasons. Based on ST and rectal temperature (RT) detected by AMSCST and mercury thermometer, respectively, a linear mixed model was established, regarding both the time point and seasonal factors as the fixed effects. Unary linear correlation and Bland-Altman analysis results indicated that the temperatures measured by AMSCST were closely correlated to those measured by mercury thermometer (R2 = 0.998), suggesting that the AMSCST is an accurate and reliable way to detect cattle's body temperature. Statistical analysis showed that the differences of STs among the three seasons, or among the different time points were significant (P<0.05), and the differences of RTs among the different time points were similarly significant (P<0.05). The prediction accuracy of the mixed model was verified by 10-fold cross validation. The average difference between measured RT and predicted RT was about 0.10 ± 0.10°C with the association coefficient of 0.644, indicating the feasibility of this model in measuring cattle body temperature. Therefore, an automated technology for accurately measuring cattle body temperature was accomplished by inventing an optimal device and establishing the AMSCST system.
牛的体温会随生殖周期和疾病状态而有规律地变化。建立一种自动监测体温的方法可能有助于更好地管理牛的繁殖和疾病控制。在此，我们开发了一种牛体表温度自动测量系统（AMSCST），通过附着一个专门设计以适应牛后腿解剖结构的外壳来测量跗骨温度。使用AMSCST，在三个测试季节中，每天24小时以一小时的间隔连续测量后腿跗骨的表面温度（ST）。分别基于AMSCST和水银温度计检测到的ST和直肠温度（RT），建立了一个线性混合模型，将时间点和季节因素都视为固定效应。一元线性相关和Bland-Altman分析结果表明，AMSCST测量的温度与水银温度计测量的温度密切相关（R2 = 0.998），这表明AMSCST是检测牛体温的一种准确可靠的方法。统计分析表明，三个季节之间或不同时间点之间的ST差异显著（P<0.05），不同时间点之间的RT差异同样显著（P<0.05）。通过10倍交叉验证验证了混合模型的预测准确性。测量的RT与预测的RT之间的平均差异约为0.10±0.10°C，关联系数为0.644，表明该模型在测量牛体温方面的可行性。因此，通过发明一种优化装置并建立AMSCST系统，实现了一种准确测量牛体温的自动化技术。
