Abstract
Infrared thermography (IRT) is a noninvasive and safe method of displaying the temperature map of objects that can be used to detect hoof diseases and lameness to reduce significant financial costs and physically stress animals. A qualitative bibliometric method based on the analysis of publications by the authors themselves using sophisticated tools of scientific databases was applied in this work. This review presents the fundamentals of IRT as well as recent developments in IRT detection in dairy science, including preprocessing, segmentation, and classification of objects in IRT images. In addition, recent studies dealing with the detection of hoof diseases and lameness using IRT are reviewed. As a result of this study, select previous studies are confronted in terms of technical aspects of IRT measurements such as emissivity, distance, temperature range, and reflected air temperature. Subsequently, recommendations for future IRT measurements are discussed.
Highlights
Infrared thermography (IRT) is a noninvasive and safe method of displaying the temperature map of objects, which can be computer-processed [1]
Previous studies confirmed that IRT is an effective tool for detecting body temperature of the livestock and their parts, including hooves, susceptible to a range of diseases manifested at different stages, especially lameness [15,16]
The results showed that 63% of the dairy cows had tissue changes in at least one hoof, while 37% remained unchanged; 14% of the dairy cows were diagnosed with a plantar ulcer, 24%—with interdigital hyperplasia, 62%—with digital dermatitis [160]
Summary
Infrared thermography (IRT) is a noninvasive and safe method of displaying the temperature map of objects, which can be computer-processed [1]. IRT allows effectively evaluating animal stress, as reported in [7,8] In precision agriculture, it is mainly used as an indicator of thermal biometric changes in the surface temperature of animals [9] with use for pregnancy assessment in mares in late pregnancy [10], animal welfare, weanling horses, or for screening of limb temperature [11]. Previous studies confirmed that IRT is an effective tool for detecting body temperature of the livestock and their parts, including hooves, susceptible to a range of diseases manifested at different stages, especially lameness [15,16]
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