An Automatic Environmental Monitoring and Cooling System to Reduce Heat Stress in Dairy Cows

( Yu-chi Tsai ),( Chen-yu Cheng ),( Jih-tay Hsu ),( Shih-torng Dnig ),( Ta-te Lin ) 한국농업기계학회 2018 한국농업기계학회 학술발표논문집 Vol.23 No.1

In tropical and subtropical regions with high temperature and humidity conditions, one of the problems in dairy farm management is the effect of heat stress on animal productivity. Due to this problem, the utilization of an automatic environmental monitoring system for cooling, labor-saving and heat stress reduction is necessary. In this study, an environmental monitoring and automatic cooling system based on an embedded system for dairy farms was designed. The system aims to regulate the environmental condition by means of direct feedback depending on the monitoring of heat stress index (HSI) augmented by dairy cow drinking behavior. The system is composed of two sub-systems: data acquisition and environmental control. The data acquisition module collects images, temperature and humidity data. The cooling system is controlled based on the real-time environmental data, and the historical data are recorded and uploaded to the server for display and analysis. The data are analyzed on the environmental monitoring panel on the farm and on the website, which can be remotely accessed. The control parameters are adjusted using the image results from the dairy cow drinking behavior with a fixed time interval. The results of the conducted experiments show that there is labor saving improvement and an increment in milk production compared to the same period in the previous year when the system was not installed. The automatic environmental monitoring cooling system exhibits high efficiency and can perform real-time control and self-adjustment. The system can be used for fully automated dairy cow system application, as well as dairy cow behavior analysis through both environmental and image information.

Factors Affecting In vitro True Digestibility of Napiergrass

Chen, Chia-Sheng,Wang, Su-Min,Hsu, Jih-Tay Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2006 Animal Bioscience Vol.19 No.4

Changes of in vitro true digestibility (IVTD) of Napiergrass (Pennisetum purpureum) were determined by a filter bag system, and their relationships to chemical composition, leaf to stem ratio, plant height, geographic location, climatic factors and harvest interval were studied and used to develop prediction models for the crude protein (CP), acid-detergent fiber (ADF), and neutral-detergent fiber (NDF) contents and IVTD. Partitioning the total variance of IVTD of Napiergrass showed that 80% was attributable to the effect of harvest interval. Days of growth, plant height, leaf/stem ratio, CP, ADF and NDF of Napiergrass had highly significant relationships (p<0.01) with IVTD. The highest coefficient of correlation between the ADF, NDF, and IVTD of Napiergrass and growth degree days was obtained when the base temperature was set at $0^{\circ}C$. Growth degree days could predict ADF, NDF, and IVTD of Napiergrass more accurately than plant height, and plant height is not suitable to predict IVTD.

Relationship of Somatic Cell Count, Physical, Chemical and Enzymatic Properties to the Bacterial Standard Plate Count in Different Breeds of Dairy Goats

Ying, Chingwen,Yang, Cheng-Bin,Hsu, Jih-Tay Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2004 Animal Bioscience Vol.17 No.4

The objective of the present study was to investigate the accuracy of mastitis diagnostic indicators for different dairy goat breeds. Biweekly milk samples were collected from individual half mammary gland of seven Saanen and seven Alpine dairy goats in the period of 40 to 120 days in milk. With threshold value set at 2.8 and 3.1 for Alpine and Saanen dairy goats, respectively, log (SPC) offered good sensitivity (0.89, 0.93), specificity (0.88, 0.95), positive predictive value (0.75, 0.85) and negative predictive value (0.95, 0.98) as a mastitis diagnostic tool. The correlations of log (SPC) with milk yield, log (SCC), ALP, LDH, $Na^{+}$, $K^{+}$ and EC were significant in Saanen dairy goats (p<0.05), with the highest correlation coefficient (0.653) existing between log (SPC) and log (SCC). The correlations of log (SPC) with milk yield, milk fat, milk protein, log (SCC), $Na^{+}$, $K^{+}$, EC were significant in Alpine dairy goats (p<0.05), with the highest correlation coefficient (0.416) existing between log (SPC) and log (SCC). There were different best-fit regression equations with different multiple diagnostic indicators for Saanen and Alpine dairy goats. In conclusion, different breeds of dairy goats may have to adapt different mastitis diagnostic parameters for a better diagnosis.

Production of Trans-10, Cis-12 Conjugated Linoleic Acid by Megasphaera Elsdenii YJ-4: Physiological Roles in the Rumen

Kim, T.W.,Choi, N.J.,Hwangbo, J.,Hsu, Jih-Tay,Lee, Sang S.,Song, M.K.,Seo, I.J.,Kim, Y.J. Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2005 Animal Bioscience Vol.18 No.10

Megaspahera elsdenii YJ-4, which was previously isolated as a producer of trans-10, cis-12 CLA, was studied for its carbon source on the CLA production. M. elsdenii YJ-4, was incubated with glucose and lactose, and cultured in batch and continuous culture systems with linoleic acid at various pHs to investigate CLA production. Batch cultures of the ruminal bacterium, M. elsdenii YJ-4, were resistant to stearic acid and linoleic acid, and little growth inhibition was observed even when the fatty acid concentration in the culture was as much as 4 mg $ml^{-1}$. Stationary phase batch cultures (0.25 mg bacterial protein $ml^{-1}$) that had been grown on lactate and incubated with linoleic acid (0.20 mg $ml^{-1}$) produced approximately 12 ${\mu}g$ trans-10, cis-12 CLA mg $protein^{-1}$ and little cis-9, trans-11 CLA was detected. Some linoleic acid was converted to hydrogenated products (chiefly stearic acid), but these fatty acids were less than 5 ${\mu}g$ mg bacterial $protein^{-1}$. Stationary phase batch cultures that had been grown on glucose produced at least 3-fold less trans-10, cis-12 CLA than ones grown on lactate. Cells from lactate-limited continuous cultures produced less trans-10, cis-12 CLA than those from batch culture, but only if the pH was greater than 6.4. When the pH of the lactate-limited continuous cultures was lower than 6.4, trans-10, cis-12 CLA and hydrogenated products declined. Cells from glucose-limited continuous cultures produced less trans-10, cis-12 CLA and hydrogenated products than the cells that had been limited by lactate, but pH had little impact on this production. These results support the idea that M. elsdenii YJ-4 could be one of the major producers of trans-10, cis-12 CLA which causes cows to produce milk with a low fat content.

An Imaging System for Monitoring the Feeding Behavior of Dairy Cows

( Cheng-yu Kuan ),( Yu-chi Tsai ),( Chen-yu Cheng ),( Jih-tay Hsu ),( Shih-torng Dnig ),( Ta-te Lin ) 한국농업기계학회 2018 한국농업기계학회 학술발표논문집 Vol.23 No.1

In sub-tropical countries, dairy cows tend to experience heat stress problems. This phenomenon may lead to declines in feed intake, milk production, and fertility. Under normal conditions, the dairy cows have a regular feeding and drinking time. For this reason, changes in feeding behavior can be a possible indicator to detect heat stress phenomena that can help farm owners monitor dairy cow health. In order to monitor and record the feeding behavior of dairy cows, an imaging system is proposed herein. The imaging system uses Raspberry Pi 3, as the embedded system, and a camera module to acquire images for dairy cow face detection in front of the feeding area to confirm if the dairy cow is eating. The dairy cow faces are detected through cascade-AdaBoost algorithms which can automatically select weak classifiers to form a strong classifier with fast processing speed in an embedded system. The factors affecting the performance of the dairy cow face detection algorithm have been tested and optimized. The system has been tested in a feeding area in National Taiwan University’s dairy farm, which has 25 dairy cows in total. By converting the frequency of dairy cow face detection into feeding time, the feeding behavior of grouped dairy cows can be analyzed. Furthermore, combining the temperature humidity index (THI) and feeding behavior can provide the farm owners with an index to evaluate the level heat stress of dairy cows.

Development and Characterization of a Specific Anti-Caveolin-1 Antibody for Caveolin-1 Functional Study in Human, Goat and Mouse

Ke, Meng-Wei,Jiang, Yan-Nian,Li, Yi-Hung,Tseng, Ting-Yu,Kung, Ming-Shung,Huang, Chiun-Sheng,Cheng, Winston Teng-Kuei,Hsu, Jih-Tay,Ju, Yu-Ten Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2007 Animal Bioscience Vol.20 No.6

Caveolin-1 of the caveolin family of proteins regulates mammary gland development and has been shown to play a contradictory role in breast tumor progression. A specific anti-Caveolin-1 antibody will be useful for functional study of Caveolin-1 in different tissues. In this study, we generated a rabbit polyclonal antibody that specifically recognizes the N-terminal amino acids 50-65 of Caveolin-1. This polyclonal antibody specifically reacted with Caveolin-1 extracted from cells of different species, including human epithelial A431 cells, goat primary mammary epithelial cells and mice fibroblast NIH 3T3 cells, by Western blotting. Endogenous Caveolin-1 protein expressing in cells and normal human tissues was detected by this polyclonal antibody using immunocytofluorescent and immunohistochemical staining, respectively. Furthermore, an apparent decrease in Caveolin-1 expression in tumorous breast and colon tissues was detected by this polyclonal antibody. In conclusion, we have identified amino acids 50-65 of Caveolin-1, which contains an epitope that is specific to Caveolin-1 and is conserved in the human, goat and mouse. In future, this anti-Caveolin-1 antibody can be used to examine the progression of breast and colon cancers and to study functions of Caveolin-1 in human, goat and mouse cells.