Association of litter size with hematology parameters of Awassi Iraqi ewes

Authors

  • Ameer Talib Khalif Department of Animal Production, College of Agriculture, Al-Qasim Green University, Al-Qasim, Babil 51001, Iraq
  • Tahreer M. Al-Thuwaini Department of Animal Production, College of Agriculture, Al-Qasim Green University, Al-Qasim, Babil 51001, Iraq
  • Mohammed Baqur S. Al-Shuhaib Department of Animal Production, College of Agriculture, Al-Qasim Green University, Al-Qasim, Babil 51001, Iraq

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.59658/jkas.v7i2.794

Abstract

Reproductive traits could affect the hematological profile of ewes. Blood parameters change in relation to the reproductive status of an animal. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the possibility of an association between the litter sizes with hematology parameters in Iraqi Awassi ewes. A total of 224 sexually mature ewes (non-pregnant, non-lactation) and healthy (124 ewes with single birth and 100 ewes with twin birth), aged between 2.5 to 5 years were included in this study. Blood samples were collected from the sheep. Samples were immediately transferred to the laboratory for a hematology examination. Results revealed to some hematological changes between ewes according to litter size. The numbers of erythrocytes, Hb and PCV% were higher in Awassi ewes with twin birth (8.106 ×106/μl), (9.863 ± 0.302) and (29.623 %) respectively than ewes with a single birth. According to the leukocyte constituents, the Awassi ewes with twin birth showed higher lymphocyte and lymphocyte % than ewes with a single birth. The highest and strongly positive correlation (P < 0.01) was recorded among litter size with RBC (r=0.315, P=0.003), PCV (r=0.310, P=0.003) and lymphocytes % (r=0.366, P=0.002). In conclusion, significant differences in hematology parameters were recorded between Awassi ewes according to the type of birth. A significant increase of RBC number, PCV and lymphocyte %, were determined in Awassi ewes with twin birth. Blood parameters can be used as good indicators of inference to a litter size of Awassi ewes.

Journal of Kerbala for Agricultural Sciences Issue (2), Volume (7), (2020)

Downloads

Published

05/25/2020

How to Cite

Khalif, A. T., Al-Thuwaini, T. M., & Al-Shuhaib, M. B. S. (2020). Association of litter size with hematology parameters of Awassi Iraqi ewes. Journal of Kerbala for Agricultural Sciences, 7(2), 20–26. https://doi.org/10.59658/jkas.v7i2.794

Issue

Vol. 7 No. 2 (2020): Issue (2), Volume (7), (2020)

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2020 Journal of Kerbala for Agricultural Sciences

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Licensing Terms

All articles are published under a Creative Commons License and will be directed to the  Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License That permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.

Use by non-commercial users

For non-commercial and non-promotional purposes individual users may access, download, copy, display, and redistribute the articles to colleagues, as well as adapt, translate, text- and data-mine the content subject to the following conditions:

  • The author's moral rights are not compromised. These rights include the right of "paternity" (also known as "attribution" - the right for the author to be identified as such) and "integrity" (the right for the author not to have the work altered in such a way that the author's reputation, or integrity may be impugned).
  • Where content in the article is identified as belonging to a third party, it is the obligation of the user to ensure that any reuse complies with the copyright policies of the owner of that content.
  • If article content is copied, downloaded, or otherwise reused for non-commercial research and education purposes, a link to the appropriate bibliographic citation (authors, journal, article title, volume, issue, page numbers, DOI, and the link to the definitive published version on JKAS website) should be maintained.
  • Copyright notices and disclaimers must not be deleted.
  • Any translations, for which a prior translation agreement with JKAS has not been agreed, must prominently display the statement: "This is an unofficial translation of an article that appeared in an FSP publication. The publisher has not endorsed this translation."

Use by commercial "for-profit" organizations

Use of JKAS Open Access articles for commercial, promotional, or marketing purposes requires further explicit permission from JKAS (journal.agri@uokerbala.edu.iq) and will be subject to a fee.

The commercial purposes include:

Copying or downloading of articles, or linking to such articles for further redistribution, sale, or licensing; Copying, downloading, or posting by a site or service that incorporates advertising with such content; The inclusion, or incorporation of article content in other works, or services (other than normal quotations with an appropriate citation) that is then available for sale or licensing, for a fee (for example, a compilation produced for marketing purposes, inclusion in a sales pack); Use of article content (other than normal quotations with appropriate citation) by for-profit organizations for promotional purposes; Linking to article content in e-mails redistributed for promotional, marketing or educational purposes; Use for the purposes of monetary reward by means of sale, resale, license, loan, transfer or other form of commercial exploitation such as marketing products; Print reprints of articles can be purchased from journal.agri@uokerbala.edu.iq.

Permissions

  • No special permission is required to reuse all, or part of the article published by JKAS, including figures and tables for non-commercial purposes.
  • Any part of the article may be reused, for non-commercial purposes, without permission provided that the original article is cited.
  • Reuse of an article does not imply endorsement by the authors, JKAS