Determining the optimal time of insemination of goats using a thermal imager

Abstract

The choice of the time of goat female insemination is one of the most significant factors determining the fertilisation result. Successful insemination can only be performed when it is close to ovulation (a few hours before). If insemination is carried out at the very beginning of the sexual hunt, then in females with a long course of this phenomenon, sperm may die before their contact with the ovule; if the sperm enters the genital system too late, the ovule may lose the ability to fertilise. Today, there are several ways to determine the fertile period of females, which have both advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, there is a need to improve existing and develop new methods for determining the optimal time of goat insemination. This can be a thermography (infrared thermography, infrared thermal imaging, thermal image, or thermal video) providing images in infrared rays, which shows a picture of the distribution of temperature fields. The investigation was focused on determining the dependence of the temperature gradients of goats’ external genitalia according to the manifestation of the stages of the sexual cycle. It was found that the external genitalia are characterized by a significant area of the palette of «hot» colours during the excitation stage of the sexual cycle. The «cold» colours (green and blue) dominate at the maturation stage. The results of studies reliably confirm the pattern of the temperature increase of the goats’ external genitalia during the period of sexual arousal compared to the maturation stage by 1.70 °C (5.1%) – 33.17 ± 0.18 °C and 31.46 ± 0.40 °C accordingly. So, for this purpose, using thermal imagers as a part of thermography is a way of preventive diagnosis of the optimal insemination time. It can be used for females of different species of animals and has a priority in animal reproduction in general. Such qualities as exceptional safety, autonomy and contactlessness make thermovisors irreplaceable in veterinary medicine.

Keywords

• fertile period
• sexual cycle
• diagnostics