Non-destructive detection of male and female information in ducklings based on near-infrared spectral wavelength selection and deep learning

The technology for sex identification in ducklings can contribute to increased revenue and cost savings in modern duck farming. However, traditional manual identification techniques require high skill levels and involve significant labor intensity. In this study, a non-destructive, user-friendly, and efficient duckling sex identification technique was proposed using near-infrared spectroscopy and deep learning algorithms. Spectral data from 600 groups of newly hatched ducklings were collected. These data were divided into training, testing, and validation sets in a ratio of 7:2:1. The raw spectral data was preprocessed using the Savitzky-Golay convolution derivative method, which was employed for subsequent spectral feature wavelength extraction and modeling. The characteristic wavelengths were extracted using competitive adaptive reweighted sampling (CARS), successive projections algorithm (SPA), and uninformative variable elimination combined with SPA (UVE-SPA). Conventional machine learning methods − support vector machine (SVM) and different deep learning models, including multilayer perceptron (MLP), mobile network version 2 (MobileNetV2), and residual neural network (ResNet), were studied and compared. The experiment showed that deep learning algorithms outperform traditional spectral analysis models in terms of classification performance. Furthermore, conducting feature wavelength extraction before constructing the classification model could reduce the model’s testing time and even improve its classification performance. Finally, the four models with better classification performance were validated using a validation set, and the combination of MobileNetV2 model UVE-SPA was selected as the optimized model for ducklings’ gender determination, with a classification accuracy of 98.3 % and an average validation time of 1.1 ms. In summary, the detection model established using near-infrared spectroscopy and MobileNetV2 can achieve non-destructive identification of the gender of ducklings. The findings can provide a preliminary research foundation and technical support for the subsequent design of related online intelligent detection systems.