Precision livestock farming (PLF) to investigate of the environmental impact on growth performance of feedlot cattle

• Grant number: 22/15473-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research
• Start date: August 01, 2023
• End date: July 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Animal Husbandry - Ecology of Domestic Animals and Ethology
• Principal Investigator: Alex Sandro Campos Maia
• Grantee: Alex Sandro Campos Maia
• Host Investigator: Izabelle Auxiliadora Molina de Almeida Teixeira
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias (FCAV). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Jaboticabal. Jaboticabal , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Idaho, United States

Abstract

The expected increase in the world population to 9.7 billion by 2050 and simultaneous overall demand for agricultural products is expected to grow at 1.1 percent per year until 2050, while meat consumption is expected to grow at 0.75 percent per year. In this frame, call for an increase in food production will be on scenario global warming in which temperature dramatic increase could exceed 1.5 °C. This growing in the animal production must be associate to sustainable farming practices that encompasses the combined application of new technologies or multiple tools in integrated systems as Precision Livestock Farming (PLF) that considered transdisciplinary innovating process. Nowadays, there is a number of commercial solutions has been employed PLF. For example, biologgers sensors (BS) to body temperature; a traditional weight measurement of cattle using walk-over-weighing (WoW) and electronic feeder (EF) in conjunction with radio frequency identification (RFID) to monitored weight and feed intake in real-time in the field. Feedlot cattle respond to their non controlled environment (air temperature and humidity; solar radiation, wind and rain), which is characterized by continuous time and space alteration that influenced directly physiological and behavior and performance responses. In this context, PLF could be the guiding concept in which technology allows real-time, continuous, and individual monitoring of animals as well as environmental conditions, and thus a better understanding on cattle performance. Based on individual monitoring of the animal then become possible to evaluate the environment impact on the behavioral and physiological affecting on the productive performance of feedlot cattle, Therefore, the proposed project aims to apply Precision Livestock Farming technologies to evaluate the environmental impact on the productive performance of feedlot cattle, by employing both conventional statistical approaches and artificial intelligence methods. Thus, we will develop a cut-edge technology to assist feedlot farmers and feedlot managers for productive performance decision-making according to environmental conditions. (AU)