Monitoramento e relação com bem-estar de suínos, por meio da plataforma arduino

Abstract

Pig farming is one of the activities in the Brazilian agricultural system that has been developing and innovating in the market. In order to ensure added value to the final product for increasingly demanding consumer countries, good practices in pig farming are necessary. Factors such as behavior and climatic variations are directly related to animal welfare, health, and the quality of their products. The use of Arduino for animal monitoring is an innovative and effective alternative, as its use allows for the continuous and real-time collection of various data and information. The objective was to implement an automated pig monitoring system with the purpose of correlating animal behavior with climatic variations throughout the day, contributing to animal welfare. The experiment was conducted at the school farm of the Federal Institute of Amapá, Agricultural Campus Porto Grande. The animal evaluated in the experiment was a purebred male of the Large White breed. The data collected on December 8 and 9, 2023, from eight (08:00) in the morning until ten (22:00) in the evening, pertained to behavioral variables (AL - Food intake; AG - water intake; OP - Standing idle; OD - Lying idle; OFE - Panting; ES - Stereotypies; OC - Other behaviors), microclimatic variables (T°C – Air temperature; RH – Relative humidity) and movement by quadrant. The data regarding animal movement and environmental variables were monitored and collected using an automated device on the Arduino® platform, with the Arduino MEGA ATmega 2560 R3 16U2 board, where 2 DHT11 sensors (Temperature and Humidity) and 12 HC-SR04 sensors (Ultrasonic) were attached. Descriptive and correlation analyses of the data were conducted using the Pearson correlation method, considering three groups: behavioral parameters; environmental parameters; and movement in the quadrant. An amplitude of 9.3°C was observed on day 1 and 6.8°C on day 2 during the two days of measurement. The humidity variation was 42.28% and 37.5% for days 1 and 2, respectively. The rates of behavioral parameters evaluated during the 14-hour daily period in the two days of the experiment revealed that the rates of Lying Idle were 78.6% and 82.1%, standing out in relation to other behaviors. There was a strong and positive linear correlation between stereotypies and food intake, located in quadrant 2. There was a strong and negative linear correlation between relative humidity and positioning in quadrant 11. A relationship was observed between standing idle and stereotypical behavior, considering the animal's positioning in quadrants 3 and 6. The use of the automated pig monitoring system allowed for the correlation of animal behavior and movement with climatic variations throughout the day, contributing to animal welfare, as it presented a high and strong correlation between the evaluated parameters. Additionally, it was possible to install and confirm the validity and efficiency of sensors on the Arduino® platform for animal monitoring.