Recent advances in wearable sensors for animal health management

Biosensors, as an application for animal health management, are an emerging market that is quickly gaining recognition in the global market. Globally, a number of sensors being produced for animal health management are at various stages of commercialization. Some technologies for producing an accurate health status and disease diagnosis are applicable only for humans, with few modifications or testing in animal models. Now, these innovative technologies are being considered for their future use in livestock development and welfare. Precision livestock farming techniques, which include a wide span of technologies, are being applied, along with advanced technologies like microfluidics, sound analyzers, image-detection techniques, sweat and salivary sensing, serodiagnosis, and others. However, there is a need to integrate all the available sensors and create an efficient online monitoring system so that animal health status can be monitored in real time, without delay. This review paper discusses the scope of different wearable technologies for animals, nano biosensors and advanced molecular biology diagnostic techniques for the detection of various infectious diseases of cattle, along with the efforts to enlist and compare these technologies with respect to their drawbacks and advantages in the domain of animal health management. The paper considers all recent developments in the field of biosensors and their applications for animal health to provide insight regarding the appropriate approach to be used in the future of enhanced animal welfare.