The repeatability and heritability of traits derived from accelerometer sensors associated with grazing and rumination time in an extensive sheep farming system
IntroductionThe automated collection of phenotypic measurements in livestock is of interest to both researchers and farmers. Real-time, low-cost, and accurate phenotyping can enhance precision livestock management and could lead to the optimized utilization of pasture and breeding of efficient anima...
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| Format: | Article |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2023-07-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Animal Science |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fanim.2023.1154797/full |
| _version_ | 1827907711574999040 |
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| author | Fazel Almasi Fazel Almasi Michael J. Stear Majid Khansefid Majid Khansefid Hien Nguyen Aniruddha Desai Jennie E. Pryce Jennie E. Pryce |
| author_facet | Fazel Almasi Fazel Almasi Michael J. Stear Majid Khansefid Majid Khansefid Hien Nguyen Aniruddha Desai Jennie E. Pryce Jennie E. Pryce |
| author_sort | Fazel Almasi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | IntroductionThe automated collection of phenotypic measurements in livestock is of interest to both researchers and farmers. Real-time, low-cost, and accurate phenotyping can enhance precision livestock management and could lead to the optimized utilization of pasture and breeding of efficient animals. Wearable sensors provide the tools for researchers to develop novel phenotypes across all production systems, which is especially valuable for grazing conditions. The objectives of this study were to estimate the repeatability and heritability of traits related to grazing and rumination activities and their correlations with other traits.MethodsThis study was conducted on a commercial Merino farm in the west of Victoria, Australia, from 4 May 2020 to 29 May 2020. A total of 160 ActiGraph sensors embedded in halters were attached to the left side of the muzzles of Merino sheep (M = 74, F = 86) aged 10–11 months while the sheep were grazing on pasture. Support vector machine (SVM) algorithms classified the sensor output into the categories of grazing, rumination, walking, idle, and other activities. These activities were further classified into daily grazing time (GT), number of grazing events (NGE), grazing length (GL), rumination time (RT), number of rumination events (NRE), rumination length (RL), walking time (WT), and idle time (IT). The data were analyzed using univariate and bivariate models in ASReml-SA to estimate the repeatability, heritability, and phenotypic correlations among traits.ResultsThe heritability of GT was estimated to be 0.44 ± 0.23, whereas the other traits had heritability estimates close to zero. The estimated repeatability for all traits was moderate to high, with the highest estimate being for GT (0.70 ± 0.03) and the lowest for RT (0.44 ± 0.03). The intraclass correlation or repeatability at a 1-day interval (i.e., 2 consecutive days) was high for all traits, and steadily reduced when the interval between measurements was longer than 1 week.DiscussionThe estimated repeatability for the grazing traits showed that wearable sensors and SVM methods are reliable methods for recording sheep activities on pasture, and have a potential application in the ranking of animals for selective breeding. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T01:11:56Z |
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| id | doaj.art-9a5d78fd24c3416a87ec32af123b7163 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2673-6225 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T01:11:56Z |
| publishDate | 2023-07-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
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| series | Frontiers in Animal Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-9a5d78fd24c3416a87ec32af123b71632023-07-05T17:42:37ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Animal Science2673-62252023-07-01410.3389/fanim.2023.11547971154797The repeatability and heritability of traits derived from accelerometer sensors associated with grazing and rumination time in an extensive sheep farming systemFazel Almasi0Fazel Almasi1Michael J. Stear2Majid Khansefid3Majid Khansefid4Hien Nguyen5Aniruddha Desai6Jennie E. Pryce7Jennie E. Pryce8Agriculture Victoria Research, AgriBio, Centre for AgriBioscience, Bundoora, VIC, AustraliaSchool of Applied Systems Biology, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC, AustraliaDepartment of Animal, Plant and Soil Sciences, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC, AustraliaAgriculture Victoria Research, AgriBio, Centre for AgriBioscience, Bundoora, VIC, AustraliaSchool of Applied Systems Biology, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC, AustraliaSchool of Mathematics and Physics, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD, AustraliaCentre for Technology Infusion, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC, AustraliaAgriculture Victoria Research, AgriBio, Centre for AgriBioscience, Bundoora, VIC, AustraliaSchool of Applied Systems Biology, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC, AustraliaIntroductionThe automated collection of phenotypic measurements in livestock is of interest to both researchers and farmers. Real-time, low-cost, and accurate phenotyping can enhance precision livestock management and could lead to the optimized utilization of pasture and breeding of efficient animals. Wearable sensors provide the tools for researchers to develop novel phenotypes across all production systems, which is especially valuable for grazing conditions. The objectives of this study were to estimate the repeatability and heritability of traits related to grazing and rumination activities and their correlations with other traits.MethodsThis study was conducted on a commercial Merino farm in the west of Victoria, Australia, from 4 May 2020 to 29 May 2020. A total of 160 ActiGraph sensors embedded in halters were attached to the left side of the muzzles of Merino sheep (M = 74, F = 86) aged 10–11 months while the sheep were grazing on pasture. Support vector machine (SVM) algorithms classified the sensor output into the categories of grazing, rumination, walking, idle, and other activities. These activities were further classified into daily grazing time (GT), number of grazing events (NGE), grazing length (GL), rumination time (RT), number of rumination events (NRE), rumination length (RL), walking time (WT), and idle time (IT). The data were analyzed using univariate and bivariate models in ASReml-SA to estimate the repeatability, heritability, and phenotypic correlations among traits.ResultsThe heritability of GT was estimated to be 0.44 ± 0.23, whereas the other traits had heritability estimates close to zero. The estimated repeatability for all traits was moderate to high, with the highest estimate being for GT (0.70 ± 0.03) and the lowest for RT (0.44 ± 0.03). The intraclass correlation or repeatability at a 1-day interval (i.e., 2 consecutive days) was high for all traits, and steadily reduced when the interval between measurements was longer than 1 week.DiscussionThe estimated repeatability for the grazing traits showed that wearable sensors and SVM methods are reliable methods for recording sheep activities on pasture, and have a potential application in the ranking of animals for selective breeding.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fanim.2023.1154797/fullgrazing timerumination timerepeatabilityphenotypic correlationMerino sheep |
| spellingShingle | Fazel Almasi Fazel Almasi Michael J. Stear Majid Khansefid Majid Khansefid Hien Nguyen Aniruddha Desai Jennie E. Pryce Jennie E. Pryce The repeatability and heritability of traits derived from accelerometer sensors associated with grazing and rumination time in an extensive sheep farming system Frontiers in Animal Science grazing time rumination time repeatability phenotypic correlation Merino sheep |
| title | The repeatability and heritability of traits derived from accelerometer sensors associated with grazing and rumination time in an extensive sheep farming system |
| title_full | The repeatability and heritability of traits derived from accelerometer sensors associated with grazing and rumination time in an extensive sheep farming system |
| title_fullStr | The repeatability and heritability of traits derived from accelerometer sensors associated with grazing and rumination time in an extensive sheep farming system |
| title_full_unstemmed | The repeatability and heritability of traits derived from accelerometer sensors associated with grazing and rumination time in an extensive sheep farming system |
| title_short | The repeatability and heritability of traits derived from accelerometer sensors associated with grazing and rumination time in an extensive sheep farming system |
| title_sort | repeatability and heritability of traits derived from accelerometer sensors associated with grazing and rumination time in an extensive sheep farming system |
| topic | grazing time rumination time repeatability phenotypic correlation Merino sheep |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fanim.2023.1154797/full |
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