NON-INVASIVE METHOD FOR DETERMINING THE DENSITY OF DUCTS AND/OR FIBRES OF SOUTH-AMERICAN CAMELIDS AND OTHER ANIMALS, AND MICROSCOPE FOR CARRYING OUT THE METHOD

摘要

The present invention relates to a non-invasive method for determining the density of ducts and fibres of South-American camelids and other animals, and to a digital microscope modified to carry out the method. The modified digital mini-microscope comprises an electronic card (1), an optical sensor (2), a spacer (3), a lens or objective lens (4), a lighting device (5), a flat glass located before the aperture of the lens (4) and covered with a protective film (7). All these components are assembled inside a casing (1) that is resistant to impacts, hermetically sealed and ergonomically shaped. The non-invasive method for determining the density of ducts and fibres in the skin of living animals comprises four main steps: (a) preparing the camelid skin and fibres for data collection (9); (b) calibrating the area of the image to be captured (10); (c) amplified capture and storage of images of the skin and fibres of the living animal (11); and (d) processing the images and displaying them on a visualisation interface (12). The present invention makes it possible to obtain the following characteristics: average and standard deviation of fibre density/mm2; average and standard deviation of duct density/mm2; number of fibres/number of ducts ratio. In addition, the method also determines the characteristics of the tufts of fibres by the number of fibres they contain. These results can be used to characterise and evaluate animals, thus providing new selection criteria measured directly and objectively for use in the genetic improvement of the animals.