HEMATOLOGICAL AND SERUM BIOCHEMICAL PROFILE IN EAST BALKAN PIGS AT DIFFERENT AGE AND SEASONS

Abstract

Twelvehematological and fifteen serum biochemical parameters were determined in indigenous East Balkan pigs at different ages and two seasons. The experiment was carried out in the Scientific Centre of Agriculture- Sredets aiming to characterize the health status of the animals when reared organically. Blood samples were taken from pre-weaned piglets (n=10), growers (n=10) and sows (n=10) in spring and summer. The results were analysed through two way ANOVA to assess the influence of the age, season and their interaction on the hematological and serum biochemical profile of the animals. Both age and season interacted significantly in regard to the red blood cells count (RBC) (P<0.001), hemoglobin (HGB) (P<0.001) and hematocrit (HCT) (P<0.01), as well as in the most biochemical parameters including creatinine(P<0.001), total protein (TP) (P<0.001), albumin (ALB) (P<0.001), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (P<0.001), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (P<0.01), uric acid (UA) (P<0.01), Mg (P<0.001), triglycerides (TG) (P<0.05) and cholesterol (P<0.01). Regardless of the season, the white blood cells (WBC) including lymphocytes and granulocytes, as well as platelets (PLT)decreased with age, while mean corpuscular volume (MCV) increased.The content of glucose, urea, gamma-glutamil transferase (GGT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), Ca and P which displayed maximal values in preweaned pigs (P<0.05) compared to the other age groups (P<0.05). The season affected the number of lymphocytes (P<0.01), their percent (P<0.001), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) andmean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) (P<0.001), as well as the concentration of GGT (P<0.001) which increased during summer,and also granulocytes (P<0.01), their percentage (P<0.001), PLT (P<0.05), glucose, urea, ALP, Ca (P<0.001) and P (P<0.01) whichwere higher in spring.