Sound Analysis to Predict the Growth of Turkeys

SIMPLE SUMMARY: The protocols for manual weighing of turkeys are not practical on turkey farms because of the large body sizes, heavy weights and flighty nature of turkeys. The sounds turkeys make may be a proxy for bird weights, but the relationship between turkey sounds and bird weights has not been studied. The aim of this study was to correlate the sound of turkeys with their age and weight and examine the possibility of using sound to predict bird weights. The study consisted of four trials in Egypt. Sounds of birds and their weights were recorded for 11 days during the growth period in each trial. A total of 2200 sounds were used to manually analyze and label each sound using the peak frequency. There was a highly significant negative correlation between the peak frequency of vocalizations and the weight and age of the turkeys, showing that the peak frequency of vocalizations can be used for predicting the weight of turkeys. ABSTRACT: Protocols for manual weighing of turkeys are not practical on turkey farms because of the large body sizes, heavy weights and flighty nature of turkeys. The sounds turkeys make may be a proxy for bird weights, but the relationship between turkey sounds and bird weights has not been studied. The aim of this study was to correlate peak frequency (PF) of vocalization with the age and weight of the bird and examine the possibility using PF to predict the weight of turkeys. The study consisted of four trials in Egypt. Sounds of birds and their weights were recorded for 11 days during the growth period in each trial. A total 2200 sounds were manually analyzed and labelled by extracting individual and general sounds on the basis of the amplitude and frequency of the sound signal. The PF of vocalizations in each trial, as well as in pooled trails, were evaluated to determine the relationship between PF and the age and weight of the turkey. PF exhibited a highly significant negative correlation with the weight and age of the turkeys showing that PF of vocalizations can be used for predicting the weight of turkeys. Further studies are necessary to refine the procedure.