1. Haemogram, blood viscosity and osmotic fragility of Isa White and Barred Plymouth Rock cocks fed varying levels of salt.
- Author
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Aro, S. O.
- Subjects
- *
BLOOD cell count , *BLOOD viscosity , *PLYMOUTH Rock chicken - Abstract
This experiment was performed to determine the effect of diets with varying salt levels on the haemogram, whole blood viscosity and osmotic fragility of Barred Plymouth Rock (BPR) and Isa White (IW) breeding cocks. Four experimental diets designated as: T1 (control diet with 0.25 % salt), T2 (diet with 0.50 % salt), T3 (diet with 0.75 % salt) and T4 (diet with 1.00 % salt) were fed to 48 cocks of the two different breeds grouped into 12 birds per treatment and at four birds per replicate. At the end of eight weeks of experiment, blood samples were collected for the determination of the haemogram, whole blood viscosity and red blood cell osmotic fragility. The results revealed differences (P<0.05) in erythrocyte sedimentation rate, haemoglobin content, red blood corpuscles, packed cell volume and whole blood viscosity between the two breeds. Also, percentage eosinophils (3.30±0.15 versus 3.10±0.10) and basophils (1.60±0.16 versus 1.80±0.13) differed (P<0.05) between breeds. The red blood cells of birds on the high salt diets were more osmotically fragile than the control diet. There was no breed difference in the osmotic fragility between the BPR and IW cocks, however the BPR breed was more sensitive to osmotic fragility at all saline concentrations and dietary levels than the IW breed. Conclusively, increase in the dietary salt up to 0.75 % level has no significant effect on the two commercial breeding cocks as far as their differential leucocyte count is concerned, but a case of sub-clinical basophilia could be induced at 1.00% level. Also, the IW seemed the more osmotically stable breed in terms of its erythrocytic osmotic fragility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...
- Published
- 2018