Application of radio frequency based digital thermometer for real-time monitoring of dairy cattle rectal temperature

Vet World Vol.10 September-2017 Article-7

Research Article

Veterinary World, 10(9): 1052-1056

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2017.1052-1056

Tridib Debnath^1,2, Santanu Bera², Suman Deb³, Prasenjit Pal⁴, Nibash Debbarma¹, and Avijit Haldar¹

1. ICAR Research Complex for North Eastern Hill Region, Tripura Centre, Agartala, Lembucherra - 799 210, Tripura, India.
2. Department of Livestock Production Management, West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences, Kolkata - 700 037, West Bengal, India.
3. Department of Computer Science and Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Agartala, Tripura, India.
4. Department of Extension and Social Sciences, College of Fisheries, Central Agricultural University, Lembucherra - 799 210, Tripura, India.

Background and Aim: Dairy cattle health monitoring program becomes vital for detecting the febrile conditions to prevent the outbreak of the animal diseases as well as ensuring the fitness of the animals that are directly affecting the health of the consumers. The aim of this study was to validate real-time rectal temperature (RT) data of radio frequency based digital (RFD) thermometer with RT data of mercury bulb (MB) thermometer in dairy cattle.

Materials and Methods: Two experiments were conducted. In experiment I, six female Jersey crossbred cattle with a mean (±standard error of the mean) body weight of 534.83±13.90 kg at the age of 12±0.52 years were used to record RT for 2 h on empty stomach and 2 h after feeding at 0, 30, 60, 90, and 120 min using a RFD thermometer as well as a MB thermometer. In experiment II, six female Jersey crossbred cattle were further used to record RT for 2 h before exercise and 2 h after exercise at 0, 30, 60, 90, and 120 min. Two-way repeated measures analysis of variance with post hoc comparisons by Bonferroni test was done.

Results: Real-time RT data recorded by RFD thermometer as well as MB thermometer did not differ (p>0.05) before and after feeding/exercise. An increase (p<0.05) in RT after feeding/exercise in experimental crossbred cattle was recorded by both RFD thermometer and MB thermometer.

Conclusion: The results obtained in the present study suggest that the body temperature recordings from RFD thermometer would be acceptable and thus RFD thermometer could work well for monitoring real-time RT in cattle. Keywords: cattle, exercise, feeding, radio frequency device, rectal temperature, thermometer.

Keywords: cattle, exercise, feeding, radio frequency device, rectal temperature, thermometer.

How to cite this article: Debnath T, Bera S, Deb S, Pal P, Debbarma N, Haldar A (2017) Application of radio frequency based digital thermometer for real-time monitoring of dairy cattle rectal temperature, Veterinary World, 10(9): 1052-1056.

Received: 18-05-2017 Accepted: 11-08-2017 Published online: 12-09-2017

Corresponding author: Avijit Haldar E-mail: avijit_vet@rediffmail.com

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2017.1052-1056

Copyright: Debnath, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.