Effects of ambient temperature and relative humidity and measurement site on the cow’s body temperature measured by infrared thermography

doi:10.3785/j.issn.1008-9209.2019.09.031

Journal of Zhejiang University (Agriculture and Life Sciences)

2020, Vol. 46

Issue (4): 500-508 DOI: 10.3785/j.issn.1008-9209.2019.09.031

Agricultural engineering

Effects of ambient temperature and relative humidity and measurement site on the cow’s body temperature measured by infrared thermography

Jincheng HE^1,²(

),Xian ZHANG^1,²,Suqing LI¹,Qianfu GAN³

^1.College of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China
^2.Fujian Engineering Research Center of Modern Agricultural Equipment, Fuzhou 350002, China
^3.School of Animal Science, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China

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Abstract

We assessed the effects of ambient temperature and relative humidity on the infrared thermography (IRT) temperature of dairy cows, and evaluated the IRT body surface temperatures as effective surrogates of cow’s rectal temperature. The rectal temperature and the IRT temperatures (eyes, nose, skin) of 171 cows were measured and obtained at the ambient temperatures of －1 to 36 ℃. The standard deviations of IRT temperatures decreased with the rising of ambient temperatures. Both ambient temperature and relative humidity had significant impact on the IRT temperatures (P＜0.000 1). The effect of relative humidity on the IRT temperatures was less than that of ambient temperature. Regression analysis showed that significant correlation existed between the rectal temperature and the IRT temperatures of eyes, nose and skin (P＜0.000 1), with R² being 0.494 0, 0.328 0, and 0.273 1 and the standard errors being 0.17, 0.19, and 0.20 ℃, respectively. The correlation was improved notably by breaking down the ambient temperature (T) into three segments, i.e., T≤10 ℃, 10 ℃＜T≤26 ℃, T＞26 ℃. Linear regression based on the segmented ambient temperature outperformed the original univariate linear correlation. Therefore, the influence of ambient temperature on the IRT temperatures cannot be ignored, and the IRT temperatures can accurately predict the body temperature using the segmented ambient temperature. Although all IRT temperatures (eyes, nose, and skin) could indicate the cow’s body (rectal) temperature, the IRT temperature of eyes is preferred because it is simple to measure, least affected by the ambient temperature, and has the highest accuracy.

Key words： infrared thermography dairy cow rectal temperature animal welfare

Received: 03 September 2019 Published: 11 September 2020

CLC:

S 818.9

Corresponding Authors: Jincheng HE E-mail: Jhe@fafu.edu.cn

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Cite this article:

Jincheng HE,Xian ZHANG,Suqing LI,Qianfu GAN. Effects of ambient temperature and relative humidity and measurement site on the cow’s body temperature measured by infrared thermography. Journal of Zhejiang University (Agriculture and Life Sciences), 2020, 46(4): 500-508.

URL:

http://www.zjujournals.com/agr/10.3785/j.issn.1008-9209.2019.09.031 OR http://www.zjujournals.com/agr/Y2020/V46/I4/500

环境温湿度及测量部位对奶牛红外热成像温度的影响

通过现场测量，研究环境温湿度对奶牛红外热成像（infrared thermography, IRT）温度的影响，以及使用局部体表红外热成像温度替代体内（直肠）温度测量的方法。试验在－1～36 ℃环境温度下，测量并获得了171头奶牛的直肠温度和奶牛的表皮、眼部、鼻镜的IRT温度。结果表明，IRT温度的标准差随环境温度增加而降低，环境温度、湿度对IRT温度有显著影响（P＜0.000 1）。由回归分析结果可知，奶牛的眼部、鼻镜、表皮的IRT温度与直肠温度相关性显著（P＜0.000 1），回归系数R²分别为0.494 0、0.328 0、0.273 1，标准误分别为0.17、0.19、0.20 ℃。将环境温度（T）值按T≤10 ℃、10 ℃＜T≤26 ℃、T＞26 ℃分成3段后进行回归分析，拟合优度R²显著高于未分段数据。综上所述，环境温度对IRT温度测量的影响不可忽视，建议分段计算环境温度对IRT温度的影响系数，以提高IRT温度测量精度；眼部、鼻镜、表皮的IRT温度都可以指示体内温度，但是眼部IRT温度最接近奶牛体内（直肠）温度。

关键词： 红外热成像技术, 奶牛, 直肠温度, 动物福利

Fig. 1 Sites of surface skin of dairy cow under IRT measurement

Fig. 2 Site of eye of dairy cow under IRT measurement

Fig. 3 Site of nose of dairy cow under IRT measurement

Fig. 4 Influence of ambient temperature on the IRT temperatures of eye, nose, skin and rectal temperatureIRT-S: Infrared thermography temperature of skin on body surface; IRT-E: Infrared thermography temperature of eyes; IRT-N: Infrared thermography temperature of nose; RT: Rectal temperature.

Table 1 Correlation analysis results between IRT-E, IRT-N, IRT-S and rectal temperature (RT) in dairy cows

Table 2 Comparison of the temperature differences between RT and IRT temperatures

Fig. 5 Box plots of the differences between RT and IRT temperatures1, 2 and 3 show the differences between RT and IRT-E, IRT-S, IRT-N, respectively.

Table 3 Results of multivariate linear regression analysis among ambient temperature, relative humidity, rectal temperature and IRT temperatures

Fig. 6 Regression results of IRT temperatures of eyes, nose, skin to rectal temperature


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