title: First Results of a Detection Sensor for the Monitoring of Laying Hens Reared in a Commercial Organic Egg Production Farm Based on the Use of Infrared Technology.
abstract: The development of a monitoring system to identify the presence of laying hens, in a closed room of a free-range commercial organic egg production farm, was the aim of this study. This monitoring system was based on the infrared (IR) technology and had, as final target, a possible reduction of atmospheric ammonia levels and bacterial load. Tests were carried out for three weeks and involved 7 ISA (Institut de Sélection Animale) brown laying hens. The first 5 days was used to set up the detection sensor, while the other 15 days were used to evaluate the accuracy of the resulting monitoring system, in terms of sensitivity and specificity. The setup procedure included the evaluation of different color background (CB) thresholds, used to discriminate the information contents of the thermographic images. At the end of this procedure, a CB threshold equal to an increase of 3 °C from the floor temperature was chosen, and a cutoff level of 196 colored pixels was identified as the threshold to use to classify a positive case. The results of field tests showed that the developed monitoring system reached a fine detection accuracy (sensitivity = 97.9% and specificity = 94.9%) and the IR technology proved to be a possible solution for the development of a detection sensor necessary to reach the scope of this study.
authors: Università Telematica San Raffaele Roma, Via di Val Cannuta 247, Rome 00166, Italy. mauro.zaninelli@unisanraffaele.gov.it.
authors: Mauro
authors: M
authors: Zaninelli
authors: Freelance Certified Infrared Thermal Technician, Oggiono (LC) 23848, Italy. vereda@tin.it.
authors: Veronica
authors: V
authors: Redaelli
authors: Department of Health, Animal Science and Food Safety (VESPA), Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Celoria 10, Milan 20133, Italy. erica.tirloni@unimi.it.
authors: Erica
authors: E
authors: Tirloni
authors: Department of Health, Animal Science and Food Safety (VESPA), Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Celoria 10, Milan 20133, Italy. cristian.bernardi@unimi.it.
authors: Cristian
authors: C
authors: Bernardi
authors: Department of Health, Animal Science and Food Safety (VESPA), Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Celoria 10, Milan 20133, Italy. vittorio.dellorto@unimi.it.
authors: Vittorio
authors: V
authors: Dell'Orto
authors: Department of Health, Animal Science and Food Safety (VESPA), Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Celoria 10, Milan 20133, Italy. giovanni.savoini@unimi.it.
authors: Giovanni
authors: G
authors: Savoini
mesh_terms: D000822:Animal Husbandry / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D000818:Animals; D015374:Biosensing Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D002645:Chickens; D004531:Eggs; D000072480:Farms; D005260:Female; D013055:Spectrophotometry, Infrared / Q000379:methods*
keywords: infrared sensors; laying hens; organic egg production systems; ozone