Measurement method for live chicken shank length based on improved ResNet and fused multi-source information.

• An advanced measurement method enables precision farming. • A precise, stable and novel live chickens shank length measurement method. • Fused images provide richer features. • An improved ResNet model applied to a regression task. Phenotypic parameters are crucial reference indicators in poultry breeding. However, the chickens shank length is still manually measured, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive. Additionally, the measurement results are difficult to unify due to the subjective factors of different individuals. To address this issue, this paper proposed a method for live chicken shank length measurement (SLM). It enriches chicken shank feature by fusing visible images and infrared images. The fusion images are then input into a deep regression model based on the improved ResNet. The measurement model used ResNet as its backbone and introduces Squeeze-and-Excitation (SE) blocks and a Spatial Pyramid Pooling (SPP) block, resulting in more precise and stable shank length measurements. The average coefficient of variation, average floating error, average standard deviation and Pearson correlation coefficient for shank length measurements using the fusion images are 0.21 %, 0.49 %, 0.181 mm and 0.996, respectively, compared with using single visible or infrared image, the accuracy and stability are obviously improved. That indicated combining deep learning model and fusion information, the SLM proposed in this paper can achieve a more precise, reliable and standardized measurement of live chicken shank length. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]