Automated pose estimation reveals walking characteristics associated with lameness in broilers.

ABSTRACT: Walking ability of broilers can be improved by selective breeding, but large-scale phenotypic records are required. Currently, gait of individual broilers is scored by trained experts, however, precision phenotyping tools could offer a more objective and high-throughput alternative. We studied whether specific walking characteristics determined through pose estimation are linked to gait in broilers. We filmed male broilers from behind, walking through a 3 m × 0.4 m (length × width) corridor one by one, at 3 time points during their lifetime (at 14, 21, and 33 d of age). We used a deep learning model, developed in DeepLabCut, to detect and track 8 keypoints (head, neck, left and right knees, hocks, and feet) of broilers in the recorded videos. Using the keypoints of the legs, 6 pose feature

SUBMITTER: Fodor I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10404698 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature