评估和验证一种自动记录奶牛采食和反刍行为的设备(RumiWatch)在放牧和补饲期间的有效性。
Evaluation and validation of an automatic jaw movement recorder (RumiWatch) for ingestive and rumination behaviors of dairy cows during grazing and supplementation.
机构信息
Agroscope, Tioleyre 4, 1725 Posieux, Switzerland; Institute of Animal Science, University of Bonn, Endenicher Allee 15, 53115 Bonn, Germany.
Agroscope, Tioleyre 4, 1725 Posieux, Switzerland.
出版信息
J Dairy Sci. 2018 Mar;101(3):2463-2475. doi: 10.3168/jds.2016-12305. Epub 2017 Dec 28.
Observation of ingestive and rumination behaviors of dairy cows may assist in detecting diseases, controlling reproductive status, and estimating intake. However, direct observation of cows on pasture is time consuming and can be difficult to realize. Consequently, different systems have been developed to automatically record behavioral characteristics; among them is the RumiWatch System (RWS; Itin and Hoch GmbH, Liestal, Switzerland). Until now, the RWS has not been thoroughly validated under grazing conditions. The aim of the current study was to validate the RWS, against direct observation, in measuring ingestive and rumination behaviors of dairy cows during grazing and supplementation in the barn. A further objective was to examine whether it is possible to refine the algorithm used by the evaluation software RumiWatch Converter 0.7.3.2 to improve the accuracy of the RWS. The data were collected from an experiment carried out with 18 lactating Holstein cows in a crossover block design including 3 treatments and 3 measuring periods. All cows grazed night and day, 19 h/d, and were either unsupplemented or supplemented, with chopped whole-plant corn silage, or chopped whole-plant corn silage mixed with a protein concentrate. During the measuring periods, cows were equipped with the RumiWatch Halter, and their ingestive and rumination behaviors were recorded concurrently by the RumiWatch Halter and by direct observation (690 × 10 min). Comparison of concurrently measured data shows that the RWS detected jaw movements reliably, but classification errors occurred. A low relative prediction error of ≤0.10 for the number of rumination boluses, rumination chews, and total eating chews was found. A high relative prediction error of >0.10 was found for the number of prehension bites and time spent in prehension and eating. Both converter versions performed equally well in differentiating ingestive and rumination behaviors when cows were supplemented in the barn or when grazing and supplementation activities were combined. For grazing cows, with no supplementation, more reliable results for the total number of eating chews, rumination chews, prehension bites, and time spent in these activities were obtained, by using the RumiWatch Converter 0.7.3.11. In light of these findings, further research is warranted to improve the accuracy of the RWS and to allow a differentiation between mastication chews and prehension bites while eating.
观察奶牛的采食和反刍行为有助于发现疾病、控制繁殖状态和估计采食量。然而,直接观察牧场中的奶牛既费时又费力。因此,已经开发出不同的系统来自动记录行为特征;其中之一是 RumiWatch 系统(RWS;Itin 和 Hoch GmbH,Liestal,瑞士)。到目前为止,RWS 还没有在放牧条件下得到充分验证。本研究的目的是验证 RWS 在测量放牧和牛舍补饲期间奶牛的采食和反刍行为方面的准确性,这是直接观察无法实现的。另一个目的是检验是否可以改进评估软件 RumiWatch Converter 0.7.3.2 使用的算法,以提高 RWS 的准确性。该数据是在一项由 18 头泌乳荷斯坦奶牛参与的交叉组设计的实验中收集的,包括 3 种处理和 3 个测量期。所有奶牛每天 19 小时昼夜放牧,要么不补饲,要么补饲切碎的全株玉米青贮或切碎的全株玉米青贮与蛋白质浓缩物的混合物。在测量期间,奶牛佩戴 RumiWatch 马具,RumiWatch 马具和直接观察(690×10 分钟)同时记录它们的采食和反刍行为。对同时测量的数据进行比较表明,RWS 可以可靠地检测到下颌运动,但存在分类错误。反刍次数、咀嚼次数和总咀嚼次数的相对预测误差低至 0.10,预取食次数和预取食和进食时间的相对预测误差高至 0.10。当牛在牛舍中补饲或同时进行放牧和补饲活动时,两种转换器版本在区分采食和反刍行为方面表现相同。对于不补饲的放牧奶牛,使用 RumiWatch Converter 0.7.3.11 可以获得总咀嚼次数、反刍咀嚼次数、预取食次数和这些活动的时间更可靠的结果。鉴于这些发现,有必要进一步研究以提高 RWS 的准确性,并允许在进食时区分咀嚼和预取食。