PSIX-15 - Assessment of machine learning algorithms for prediction of Aleutian disease in American mink

Abstract: American mink (Neovison vison) is the major source of fur for the fur industries worldwide and Aleutian disease (AD) is causing severe financial losses to the mink industry. Different methods have been used to diagnose the AD in mink, but the combination of several methods can be the most appropriate approach for the selection of AD resilient mink. Iodine agglutination test (IAT) and counterimmunoelectrophoresis (CIEP) methods are commonly employed in test-and-remove strategy; meanwhile, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and packed-cell volume (PCV) methods are complementary. However, using multiple methods are expensive; and therefore, hindering the corrected use of AD tests in selection. This research presented the assessments of the AD classification based on machine learning algorithms. The Aleutian disease was tested on 1,830 individuals using these tests in an AD positive mink farm (Canadian Centre for Fur Animal Research, NS, Canada). The accuracy of classification for CIEP was evaluated based on the sex information, and IAT, ELISA and PCV test results implemented in seven machine learning classification algorithms (Random Forest, Artificial Neural Networks, C50Tree, Naive Bayes, Generalized Linear Models, Boost, and Linear Discriminant Analysis) using the Caret package in R. The accuracy of prediction varied among the methods. Overall, the Random Forest was the best-performing algorithm for the current dataset with an accuracy of 0.89 in the training data and 0.94 in the testing data. Our work demonstrated the utility and relative ease of using machine learning algorithms to assess the CIEP information, and consequently reducing the cost of AD tests. However, further works require the inclusion of production and reproduction information in the models and extension of phenotypic collection to increase the accuracy of current methods.