Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics,Justus Liebig University Giessen,Leihgesterner Weg 52,D-35392 Giessen,Germany.
Animal. 2018 Feb;12(2):398-407. doi: 10.1017/S1751731117001975. Epub 2017 Aug 15.
Efficient detection of estrus is a permanent challenge for successful reproductive performance in dairy cattle. In this context, comprehensive knowledge of estrus-related behaviors is fundamental to achieve optimal estrus detection rates. This review was designed to identify the characteristics of behavioral estrus as a necessary basis for developing strategies and technologies to improve the reproductive management on dairy farms. The focus is on secondary symptoms of estrus (mounting, activity, aggressive and agonistic behaviors) which seem more indicative than standing behavior. The consequences of management, housing conditions and cow- and environmental-related factors impacting expression and detection of estrus as well as their relative importance are described in order to increase efficiency and accuracy of estrus detection. As traditional estrus detection via visual observation is time-consuming and ineffective, there has been a considerable advancement of detection aids during the last 10 years. By now, a number of fully automated technologies including pressure sensing systems, activity meters, video cameras, recordings of vocalization as well as measurements of body temperature and milk progesterone concentration are available. These systems differ in many aspects regarding sustainability and efficiency as keys to their adoption for farm use. As being most practical for estrus detection a high priority - according to the current research - is given to the detection based on sensor-supported activity monitoring, especially accelerometer systems. Due to differences in individual intensity and duration of estrus multivariate analysis can support herd managers in determining the onset of estrus. Actually, there is increasing interest in investigating the potential of combining data of activity monitoring and information of several other methods, which may lead to the best results concerning sensitivity and specificity of detection. Future improvements will likely require more multivariate detection by data and systems already existing on farms.
发情鉴定的高效性是奶牛成功繁殖性能的一个永恒挑战。在这种情况下，全面了解发情相关行为是实现最佳发情检测率的基础。本综述旨在确定发情行为的特征，作为制定策略和技术以改善奶牛场繁殖管理的必要基础。重点是发情的次要症状（爬跨、活动、攻击和争斗行为），这些症状比站立行为更具指示性。描述了管理、饲养条件以及与牛和环境相关的因素对发情表达和检测的影响及其相对重要性，以提高发情检测的效率和准确性。由于传统的通过视觉观察进行发情鉴定既费时又低效，因此在过去 10 年中，已经相当多的检测辅助工具得到了发展。目前，有许多全自动技术，包括压力感应系统、活动计、摄像机、发声记录以及体温和牛奶孕酮浓度的测量。这些系统在可持续性和效率方面存在差异，这是其在农场使用中被采用的关键。根据当前的研究，由于基于传感器的活动监测（尤其是加速度计系统）对于发情检测最实用，因此发情检测的优先级较高。由于发情个体强度和持续时间的差异，多元分析可以帮助牧场经理确定发情的开始。实际上，人们越来越有兴趣研究结合活动监测数据和其他几种方法信息的潜力，这可能会提高检测的敏感性和特异性。未来的改进可能需要更多的多元检测，这些检测可以通过农场现有的数据和系统来实现。
