Capillary Microfluidic Sensor for Determining the Most Fertile Period in Cows

This paper presents a new method of optoelectronic determination of cow fertility, based on a microfluidic fiber-optic capillary sensor. The current state of the art of fiber-optic capillary sensors is discussed briefly along with aspects of instrumentation and applications. Unlike classical fiber-optic sensors which are based on changes in light propagation inside the fiber in response to external conditions, optical capillary sensors rely on changes of light transmission within capillaries filled with the liquid to be analyzed. This approach opens up interesting new possibilities for the application of capillary microfluidic sensors, while raising specific issues relating to their construction, materials and technology. The investigated sensor uses light switching forced by local heating in a capillary filled with bovine vaginal fluid. The dynamically recorded data were processed in an artificial neural network. We were able to observe changes in the cow's fertility cycle allowing us to identify when an individual cow was in the middle part of standing estrus which is most situated for insemination.