MINECO

Intelligent software to support sustainable strategies and decisions in the chicken meat production chain

  • Financing: MINECO (Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness)
  • Head researcher: Dr. Inma Estévez
  • Duration: 2014-16

The iBOSP project will integrate the latest technological approaches with traditional broiler production in order to provide the chicken meat production industry with an intelligent system capable of supporting efficient, sustainable production. The sustainable production model is based on considerations of animal welfare and environmental responsibility. Knowledge models will be generated through the latest artificial intelligence algorithms to optimally manage the fattening process, which provides key recommendations to help the industry design better production strategies.
It will also provide the elements of the production chain, such as farmers, veterinarians and technical staff, with crucial information for optimising production. Therefore, iBOSP would be able to provide the tools necessary to ensure efficient, sustainable production in accordance with a production model based on social responsibility. Characteristics of interest will be identified in accordance with best management practices and the latest scientific knowledge on broiler production, the health and welfare provided by the team of scientists in their dealings with animals. This team will also provide additional tools for the welfare of broilers by evaluating their health, and playing a key role as an inter-communicator with the chicken meat industry, in addition to the validation process of the system. In addition, the team has the support and contributions from the broiler industry (represented by AN Avicola Melida), also offering the possibility that the field tests which will be essential for developing a realistic system, will adapted to the field. Thanks to this knowledge framework, they will be designed and improved through the use of modelling data and self-learning capacities, capable of producing a system with the ability to automatically determine the status of controlled processes accurately in real time and act accordingly. The resulting system will be integrated and tested at key phases of the chicken meat production chain: breeding ground, farm and abattoir. The results will be announced and presented on related forums, focusing on the national and international poultry industry. iBOSP also presents opportunities for greater application and evolution of the system through collaboration with international partners in Brazil, the second largest country in the world in terms of broiler production.

Main Objective:
The main objective of this coordinated project is to develop a system of intelligent software called iBOSP (intelligent sustainable broiler production) to support sustainable strategies and decisions in the broiler production chain. iBOSP will collect and centralise the information from available sources at each production stage (breeding ground, farm and abattoir) and analyse them in order to extract useful knowledge. In addition, iBOSP will be enhanced with other tools to provide an agile assessment of the health status and welfare of the animals and energy efficiency of the processes under study.

Secondary Objectives:
• Specification of iBOSP requirements for the initial system, selection of characteristics of interest (including animal health and welfare) and specifications of the theoretical models.
o iBOSP specification of initial requirements.
o specification of theoretical models.
• Conceptualisation of the iBOSP system and design of knowledge models.
• Development of the iBOSP system and integration of knowledge models.
• Integration of the system and development of iBOSP field tests to check the operation and validation of the system.
• Launch and dissemination of the iBOSP system.