The suitability of infrared temperature measurements for continuous temperature monitoring in gilts

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate whether an infrared thermometer, a pyrometer, could detect the body surface temperature in the orbital area of gilts without contacting them. Furthermore, it was tested whether an increase in the gilts' temperatures could be detected. Therefore, fever was induced. During 11 trials, 43 German Landrace gilts were injected with either a Porcilis AR-T DF (Intervet International B.V., Boxmeer, Netherlands) vaccine or 2 ml of 0.9 % NaCl. A commercial temperature logger (TRIX-8, LogTag Recorders, Auckland, New Zealand) was placed in the vagina to record temperature data every 3 min. The pyrometer (optris cs, Optris, Berlin, Germany) was aimed at where the orbital area of the gilts would be. While they were drinking, temperature measurements were done in that site by the pyrometer. Time periods from 0.25 to 6 h were analysed. Considering the 0.25-h period, a positive correlation (ρ=0.473) between temperatures of the logger and the pyrometer was found for 15 of 39 gilts. The longer the chosen measuring period was, the fewer animals showed a significant correlation between the two temperatures. In contrast to the vaginal logger, the pyrometer cannot detect an increase in the body temperature in all fever-induced gilts. In conclusion, a pyrometer cannot detect the body surface temperature reliably. An increase in the body surface temperature over a short time period (on average 5 h) could not be detected by the pyrometer. The temperature increase measured using the pyrometer was too low and time-delayed compared to the temperature detected by the vaginal logger.

Alterations in Interleukin-1β and Interleukin-6 in Mice Inoculated Through the Oral Routes Using Graded Doses of <i>p. Multocida</i> Type b: 2 and its Lipopolysaccharide

“…Pro-inflammatory mediators and especially (IL-1β and IL-6) were reported to enhance leukocyte transmigration into the site of infection by favouring expression of cell adhesion molecules and production of eicosanoids and prostaglandins that perpetuate the inflammatory cascade in septicemia (Praveena et al, 2010). The higher levels of (IL-1β and IL-6) cytokines in the mice serum in this research work could also be attributed to fever, anorexia and behavioural changes observed in the infected animals (Dionissopoulos et al, 2012;Gyenai et al, 2012;Schmidt et al, 2014). The increased in serum cytokine levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β and IL-6) at 120 h post-inoculation could perchance be due to the damage of the tissue cells and infiltration of inflammatory cells into the sites of infections.…”

“…There were increases in the concentration of IL-6 with 0.4 mL of 10 3 cfu in the mice that were inoculated orally with Pasteurella multocida type B: 2 compared with those inoculated with LPS and the control group. Schmidt et al (2014) observed that single intravenous injection of LPS was tolerated easily by mice without any observable pathology or evidence of ill health. They also stated that repeated intraperitoneal injections of LPS in mice at 8 h intervals caused the mice to become ill (Schmidt et al, 2014) exhibiting reduced social and feeding activity, huddling behavior with piloerection and shivering, increased skin turgor and weight loss and eventually led to hypothermia before the mice became moribund.…”

“…Schmidt et al (2014) observed that single intravenous injection of LPS was tolerated easily by mice without any observable pathology or evidence of ill health. They also stated that repeated intraperitoneal injections of LPS in mice at 8 h intervals caused the mice to become ill (Schmidt et al, 2014) exhibiting reduced social and feeding activity, huddling behavior with piloerection and shivering, increased skin turgor and weight loss and eventually led to hypothermia before the mice became moribund. However, Pasteurella multocida type B: 2 exert its effect at a concentration higher with respect to LPS and the induction starts later and lasts longer.…”

A Systematic Review on Validated Precision Livestock Farming Technologies for Pig Production and Its Potential to Assess Animal Welfare

“…sensor was not described [two studies on thermal cameras (47,48), one on load cells with RFID in a feeding station (49), one on cameras (50), and one on microphone ( 51)]. From the obtained list of commercially available PLF technologies, 14% were validated in some identified papers of literature search (12 of 83 technologies), of which 5% corresponded to external validation (52)(53)(54)(55).…”

“…Also, the usefulness of thermal image to assess piglets' stress by measuring bodytemperature changes when applying stressors (cold, pain, hunger, thirst) was tested (89). One study was found using a pyrometer for continuously measuring body-temperature, showing negative validation results (55). Load cells (scales) with and without RFID were validated for assessing body weight.…”