A longitudinal study of the effect of time on the matching performance of a retinal recognition system for lambs

Abstract

While there is strong evidence supporting retinal vascular pattern as a distinctive marker for sheep, it would be advantageous to get an insight into its robustness; in other words, to determine whether retinal recognition of young animals (lambs) can reach as good a matching performance as the one demonstrated for adult sheep. To this aim, a longitudinal study was devised to observe the evolution of matching scores (ms) of lamb retinal images ( n = 38) acquired from 1 to 22 weeks after birth. It was observed that four lamb retinas (out of 38) underwent slight curving of one or two secondary arteries, which ceased by the time they were 6–8 weeks old. However, this slight artery curving did not affect matching performance. A random effects statistical model demonstrated that lamb age had an effect ( P < 0.01) on the matching scores produced using this commercially available retinal recognition system. As lambs grew older (larger eyes) and they became easier to handle, retinal images of progressively better quality could be obtained in a more consistent way; and thus matching scores increased from an average of 86 at the first week of life, up to an average of 96 by week 8. Dunnett simultaneous tests of means indicated that no further improvement in matching score took place once lambs were at least 6–8 weeks old, meaning that the retinal image quality became by then optimal and consistent. Although the variable retinal image quality of younger lambs (1–4 weeks old) caused a reduction in matching score, they did not lead to false non-matches in any case (considering a cut-off matching score of 70 for acceptance of a positive match). Therefore, the results of these trials have shown that, with the available technology, retinal images can be used as a robust biometric marker of lambs from 1 week of age.