A Review of You Only Look Once Algorithms in Animal Phenotyping Applications

Animal phenotyping recognition is a pivotal component of precision livestock management, holding significant importance for intelligent farming practices and animal welfare assurance. In recent years, with the rapid advancement of deep learning technologies, the YOLO algorithm-as the pioneering single-stage detection framework-has revolutionized the field of object detection through its efficient and rapid approach and has been widely applied across various agricultural domains. This review focuses on animal phenotyping as the research target structured around four key aspects: (1) the evolution of YOLO algorithms, (2) datasets and preprocessing methodologies, (3) application domains of YOLO algorithms, and (4) future directions. This paper aims to offer readers fresh perspectives and insights into animal phenotyping research.