Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G1 1RD, UK.
Dairy Research and Innovation Centre, Scotland's Rural College DG1 4TA, UK.
Sensors (Basel). 2019 Mar 7;19(5):1165. doi: 10.3390/s19051165.
The reticuloruminal function is central to the digestive efficiency in ruminants. For cattle, collar- and ear tag-based accelerometer monitors have been developed to assess the time spent ruminating on an individual animal. Cattle that are ill feed less and so ruminate less, thus, the estimation of the time spent ruminating provides insights into the health of individual animals. pH boluses directly provide information on the reticuloruminal function within the rumen and extended (three hours or more) periods during which the ruminal pH value remains below 5.6 is an indicator that dysfunction and poor welfare are likely. Accelerometers, incorporated into the pH boluses, have been used to indicate changes in behaviour patterns (high/low activity), utilised to detect the onset of oestrus. The paper demonstrates for the first time that by processing the reticuloruminal motion, it is possible to recover rumination periods. Reticuloruminal motion energy and the time between reticuloruminal contractions are used as inputs to a Support Vector Machine (SVM) to identify rumination periods with an overall accuracy of 86.1%, corroborated by neck mounted rumination collars.
反刍功能是反刍动物消化效率的核心。对于牛，已经开发出基于项圈和耳标式的加速度计监测器，以评估个体动物反刍的时间。生病的牛吃得少，因此反刍也少，因此，估计反刍的时间可以深入了解个体动物的健康状况。pH 探头直接提供瘤胃内反刍功能的信息，在 pH 值持续低于 5.6 的三个小时或更长时间内，表明存在功能障碍和不良福利的可能性。加速度计被整合到 pH 探头中，用于指示行为模式（高/低活动）的变化，用于检测发情的开始。本文首次证明，通过处理反刍运动，可以恢复反刍期。反刍运动能量和反刍收缩之间的时间被用作支持向量机（SVM）的输入，以识别反刍期，总体准确率为 86.1%，这与颈部安装的反刍项圈的结果相符。
