Source: EN'URGA INC. submitted to
A LOW-COST QUANTITATIVE ANEMIA DETECTION METHOD FOR LIVESTOCK
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
TERMINATED
Funding Source
SMALL BUSINESS GRANT
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1002947
Grant No.
2014-33610-21913
Project No.
INDK-2014-00517
Proposal No.
2014-00517
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Program Code
8.3
Project Start Date
Jun 1, 2014
Project End Date
Nov 30, 2016
Grant Year
2014
Project Director
Sivathanu, Y.
Recipient Organization
EN'URGA INC.
1291 A, CUMBERLAND AVE.
WEST LAFAYETTE,IN 47906
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Gastrointestinal parasites are the most important pathogens of sheep and goats worldwide. Anemia is the primary sign of internal parasite infection, and many sheep die of blood loss anemia secondary to abomasal parasites. Anemia results in pale mucous membranes and conjunctiva in animals and humans. This SBIR project will develop a mobile App to determine the hemoglobin blood count in large animals. During the project, a calibration and color analysis scheme will be evaluated so as to determine an accurate hemoglobin blood count from the color of the mucosa of large animals' eyes.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
100%
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
31539101110100%
Knowledge Area
315 - Animal Welfare/Well-Being and Protection;

Subject Of Investigation
3910 - Cross-commodity research--multiple animal species;

Field Of Science
1110 - Parasitology;
Goals / Objectives
The major goal of the project is to establish the feasibility of using standard mobile phone cameras to determine the hemoglobin blood count in large animals.
Project Methods
During the project, the mucosa of large animals' eyes will be imaged with a standard RGB camera as well as a mobile phone camera. The cameras will be calibrated using a full spectrum lamp and several color filters. The images of the mucosa will be obtained from sheep that are bleed to induce anemia. The images will then be analyzed in various color spaces to determine the correlation of the mucosa color with the hemoglobin blood count. If the correlation is found to be significant, further development of a mobile App will be continued. The results will be disseminated through journal and trade magazine articles and paid advertisements to the target audience.

Progress 06/01/14 to 11/30/16

Outputs
Target Audience:We have reached out to approximately 20 goat farmers and veterinarians and discussed the mobile App with them. Most of them encouraged the development of the mobile app. Changes/Problems:The project was extended by one year since the correlations between the HBC in sheep (varied using phlebotomy)and the images of their conjunctiveobtained using a camera were not good. Therefore, field trials on goats werestarted. The images obtained from the field trials had severe lighting problems and therefore, a polarizer and a standard reference plate was used to correct for the lighting problems. When the standard reference plate was used, we obtained a good correlation between HBC values in goats and a model based on the images of the conjunctiva of goats. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?A technician at Purdue University was trained in using a blood analyzer to obtain the hemoglobin blood count in sheep and goat. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?A US Patent titled "A Method and a Mobile App for use with a Mobile Device to Accurately Quantify Blood Hemoglobin in Mammals" (U.S. Patent Application Number 14/503,379) has been filed on November 30, 2014. In addition, we conducted a survery of approximately 20 goat producers andand veterinarians and discussed the Mobile App with them. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? During the Phase I work, it wasdemonstrated that a color analysis of the conjunctiva of a goat's eye obtained with a mobile phone camera can be used to determine the HBC level in blood. Further refinement and automation of the protocol and analysis to be completed during the Phase II project will lead to a very simple App that can be used by farmers to obtain HBC levels in goats. The goal of this Phase I SBIR project is to establish the feasibility of developing a low cost method to quantify the level of anemia in livestock. During this report period, images of mucosa several sheep and goats were obtained using a standard mobile phone. In addition, the hemoglobin blood count of the sheep and goats was obtained using standard laboratory methods. The images were analyzed to determine if there is sufficient correlation between the images and the HBC in sheep. The results showed a high correlation between the model obtained using the images and the blood count obtained in a laboratory.

Publications