Hyperspectral image reconstruction for predicting chick embryo mortality towards advancing egg and hatchery industry

Abstract

As the demand for food surges and the agricultural sector undergoes a transformative shift towards sustainability and efficiency, the need for precise and proactive measures to ensure the health and welfare of livestock becomes paramount. In the egg and hatchery industry, hyperspectral imaging (HSI) has emerged as a cutting-edge, non-destructive technique for fast and accurate egg quality analysis, including detecting chick embryo mortality. However, the high cost and operational complexity compared to conventional RGB imaging are significant bottlenecks in the widespread adoption of HSI technology. To overcome these hurdles and unlock the full potential of HSI, a promising solution is hyperspectral image reconstruction from standard RGB images. This study aims to reconstruct hyperspectral images from RGB images for non-destructive early prediction of chick embryo mortality. Initially, the performance of different image reconstruction algorithms, such as HRNET, MST++, Restormer, and EDSR were compared to reconstruct the hyperspectral images of the eggs in the early incubation period. Later, the reconstructed spectra were used to differentiate live from dead embryos eggs using the XGBoost and Random Forest classification methods. Among the reconstruction methods, HRNET showed impressive reconstruction performance with MRAE of 0.0955, RMSE of 0.0159, and PSNR of 36.79 dB. This study motivated the idea that harnessing imaging technology integrated with smart sensors and data analytics has the potential to improve automation, enhance biosecurity, and optimize resource management towards sustainable agriculture 4.0.