Abstract
Determining the slaughter weight of pigs is crucial to the profitability of swine production farms. Unfortunately, in develo** countries, the basic infrastructure for weight measurement may not always be available, affecting farmers’ income. This study presents a machine learning-based approach to determine the dressed weight of pigs using four morphometric dimensions: paunch girth (PG), heart girth (HG), body length and wither height, which can be measured in situ. Different neural network model structures were constructed taking LM, GDX and BR training algorithms, tansigmoid/logsigmoid hidden layer transfer functions and 5–30 hidden layer neurons (HLNs). Results showed that LM training algorithm with logsigmoidal transfer function and 20 HLNs resulted in 99.8% accuracy in determining the pig dressed weight. Further, the number of morphometric parameters as inputs was gradually reduced and it was found that 99% accuracy can still be achieved using just PG and HG, thereby reducing the measurement time.
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs13197-023-05704-4/MediaObjects/13197_2023_5704_Fig1_HTML.png)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs13197-023-05704-4/MediaObjects/13197_2023_5704_Fig2_HTML.png)
Availability of data and material
Data can be made available on reasonable request.
Code availability
Not applicable.
References
Ahmadi H, Rodehutscord M (2017) Application of artificial neural network and support vector machines in predicting metabolizable energy in compound feeds for pigs. Front Nutr 4:27
Al Ard Khanji MS, Llorente C, Falceto MV, Bonastre C, Mitjana O, Tejedor MT (2018) Using body measurements to estimate body weight in gilts. Can J Anim Sci 98(2):362–367
Alenyorege B, Addy F, Abgolosu AA (2013) Linear body measurements as predictors of live weight of the large white pig in Northern Ghana. Ghanian J Anim Sci 7(2):99–105
Alves AAC, Pinzon AC, da Costa RM, da Silva MS, Vieira EHM, de Mendonça IB, Viana VSS, Lôbo RNB (2019) Multiple regression and machine learning based methods for carcass traits and saleable meat cuts prediction using non-invasive in vivo measurements in commercial lambs. Small Rum Res 171:49–56
Banik S, Naskar S, Pankaj PK, Sahoo NR, Tamuli MK, Das A (2012) Effect of different body measurements on body weight in Ghungroo pigs. Indian J Anim Sci 82(9):1094
Bhoj S, Tarafdar A, Chauhan A, Singh M, Gaur GK (2022) Image processing strategies for pig liveweight measurement: updates and challenges. Comput Electron Agric 193:106693
Bihl T, Young II WA, Moyer A, Frimel S (2023) Artificial neural networks and data science. In: J Wang (ed.) Encyclopedia of data science and machine learning. IGI Global, pp 899–921
Boler DD (2014) Species of meat animals | pigs. In: Dikeman M, Devine C (eds) Encyclopaedia of meat sciences, 2nd edn. Elsevier, London, pp 363–368
Brandl N, Jorgensen E (1996) Determination of live weight of pigs from dimensions measured using image analysis. Comput Electron Agric 15(1):57–72
Eikelenboom G, Walstra P, Huiskes JH, Klont RE (2004) Species of meat animals pigs. In: WK Jensen (ed.) Encyclopedia of meat sciences. Elsevier, Oxford, UK, pp 1284–1291.
Jiang YZ, Zhu L, Tang GQ, Li MZ, Jiang AA, Cen WM, **ng SH, Chen JN, Wen AX, He T, Wang Q, Zhu GX, Mie M, Li XW (2012) Carcass and meat quality traits of four commercial pig crossbreeds in China. Genet Mol Res 11(4):4447–4455
Kanwisher N, Khosla M, Dobs K (2023) Using artificial neural networks to ask ‘why’ questions of minds and brains. Trends Neurosci. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tins.2022.12.008
Kayri M (2016) Predictive abilities of Bayesian regularization and Levenberg–Marquardt algorithms in artificial neural networks: a comparative empirical study on social data. Math Comput Appl 21(2):20
Lebret B, Čandek-Potokar M (2022) Pork quality attributes from farm to fork. Part I. Carcass and fresh meat. Animal 16:100402
Machebe NS, Ezekwe AG (2010) Predicting body weight of growing-finishing gilts raised in the tropics using linear body measurements. Asian J Exp Biol Sci 1(1):162–165
OECD-FAO (2021). Meat. OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2021–2030, 163–177.
Panda S, Gaur GK, Chauhan A, Kar J, Mehrotra A (2021) Accurate assessment of body weights using morphometric measurements in Landlly pigs. Trop Anim Health Prod 53:362
Phookan A, Laskar S, Rajbongshi P, Deori S (2020) Carcass characteristics of indigenous pigs of Assam reared under semi-scavenging system. Liv Res Int 8(2):56–58
Szyndler-Nędza M, Eckert R, Blicharski T, Tyra M, Prokowski A (2016) Prediction of carcass meat percentage in young pigs using linear regression models and artificial neural networks. Ann Anim Sci 16(1):275–286
Thomas CK, Sastry NSR (2021) Poultry production. In: Thomas CK, Sastry NSR (eds) Livestock production management, 8th edn. Kalyani Publishers, New Delhi, p 593
Walczak S (2019) Artificial neural networks. In: M Khosrow-Pour (ed.) Advanced methodologies and technologies in artificial intelligence, computer simulation, and human-computer interaction. IGI Global, pp 40–53
Funding
The authors thank ICAR-IVRI for providing necessary funds to carry out this research work under office order 3-8/2022-23/Budget.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
SB carried out the experiments, did formal analysis and wrote the manuscript; GKG and AT conceptualized and supervised the work, reviewed and edited the manuscript and validated the results.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Ethics approval
Not applicable.
Consent to participate
Not applicable.
Consent for publication
All authors have given consent for publication.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bhoj, S., Gaur, G.K. & Tarafdar, A. An intelligent model for predicting the dressed weight of pigs using morphometric measurements. J Food Sci Technol 60, 1841–1845 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-023-05704-4
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-023-05704-4