Table_1_Development and Utilization of an Isolation Box Test to Characterize Personality Traits of Dairy Calves.docx

The use of an isolation box test (IBT) to characterize personality traits has been used in non-bovine species with success. We aimed to develop an IBT for dairy calves and determine if the behavioral responses to an IBT were associated with personality traits found from traditional tests (novel person, novel object, and a startle tests) and average daily gain (ADG; Kg/d) through weaning. Calf movement while in the IBT was measured via accelerometers attached to 5 locations on the exterior of the box. A total movement index (TMI) was calculated based on accelerometer readings during the IBT. We performed a principal component analysis on the traditional tests and identified 3 influential factors that we labeled as “fearful,” “bold,” and “active.” Calves were weighed biweekly to track liveweight ADG. Factor scores and ADG were regressed against TMI. A significant negative association was found between the TMI and the factor “active,” indicating the validity of IBT as a tool for assessing some personality traits of dairy calves. Furthermore, TMI had a positive association with ADG through the entire experimental period and thus has potential to help predict performance through weaning. IBT has potential to be used as a personality test in research scenarios. Further development is needed to produce an IBT that would be appropriate to measure animals' responses reliably in production settings. An automated test that can accommodate a wide range of ages and developing a computer learning model to interpret output from the IBT would be a possible option to do so.

隔离箱测试（IBT）在表征非牛科动物个性特征方面已取得成功。本研究旨在开发适用于乳牛犊的IBT，并探究IBT的行为反应与传统测试（新颖人物、新颖物体和惊吓测试）中发现的个性特征以及断奶期间的日增重（ADG；千克/天）之间的关联。通过将加速度计固定于箱体外部5个位置，测量犊牛在IBT中的移动情况。基于IBT期间的加速度计读数，计算了总移动指数（TMI）。我们对传统测试进行了主成分分析，识别出三个具有影响力的因素，分别命名为“恐惧型”、“大胆型”和“活跃型”。犊牛每隔两周称重一次，以追踪其活重ADG。将因素得分和ADG对TMI进行回归分析，发现TMI与“活跃型”因素之间存在显著的负相关，这表明IBT作为评估乳牛犊某些个性特征工具的有效性。此外，TMI在整个实验期间与ADG呈正相关，因此具有通过断奶预测性能的潜力。IBT有望在研究场景中用作个性测试。为进一步开发适用于生产环境中可靠测量动物反应的IBT，需要进一步研究。开发一种能够适应广泛年龄段的自动测试，并建立一个计算机学习模型以解释IBT输出，可能是实现此目标的一种可行方案。