Hematological variables of the Pêga donkey (Equus asinus) breed: influence of age and sex

Abstract

Appropriate hematological reference intervals mitigate the risk of unnecessary investigations and failures on disease diagnosis. Species, breed, environment, handling, and physiologic stage could influence hematological variables. In this context, there is a lack of hematological reference intervals for Pêga donkeys, an important Brazilian asinine breed. This study aimed to establish hematological reference values for Pêga donkeys and determine the influence of age and sex on these variables. The complete blood count of samples collected from 110 animals, 79 females and 31 males was performed, maintained under field conditions. The animals under 1 year old (three females and five males) were monitored by collections on the day of birth, on 3rd, 7th, 15th day, and monthly until 12 months of life, while the other donkeys were sampled once. There were differences in several variables analyzed, confirming the requirement of different reference intervals according to age group and sex. Moreover, differences among the values obtained and those of previous studies show a breed influence on the hematological variables of donkeys. For Pêga breed donkeys, animal's age and sex influence most of the hematological variables. This study can be useful in the clinical routine and serve as basis to other scientific researches related to Pêga donkeys.

Biochemical and haematological profile of donkeys in the Czech and Slovak Republics: influence of age and sex

“…The EOS in our study tended to increase with age, which is in agreement with other studies (Zinkl et al 1990;Girardi et al 2014) but at odds with Folch et al (1997) who reported a decrease of this variable with aging. We can presume that this increase in EOS may be attributed to a higher parasitic burden with age or progressive contact with allergen antigens.…”

“…On the one hand, many previous studies (mentioned above) describe varying indices for different sexes and ages in a population of donkeys (Folch at al. 1997;Jordana et al 1998;Mori et al 2003Mori et al , 2004Girardi et al 2013Girardi et al , 2014. On other hand, in the study of French and Patrick (1995) based on a population of approximately 4,000 donkeys, no differences in biochemical indices in relation to age and sex were found.…”

“…The influence of the donkey's age and sex has also already been reported (Folch et al 1997;Jordana et al 1998;Mori et al 2003Mori et al , 2004Girardi et al 2013Girardi et al , 2014. On the other hand, there is a study which investigated about 4000 donkeys without proof that biochemical variables are affected by the age and sex (French and Patrick 1995).…”

Effect of age, sex, physical activity and meteorological factors on haematological parameters of donkeys (Equus asinus)

“…This in turn requires the understanding of haematological profiles of an, apparently, healthy animal, whose physiological parameters provide invaluable information regarding the health status of the animal (Kral and Suchy 2000 ; Mori et al 2003 , 2004 ; Cetin et al 2009 ). Inspite of the clinical significance, correct haematological interpretation and analysis are sometimes difficult because many factors considerably influence the haematological parameters in goats, pigs, rabbits, camels, cattle, horses and donkeys, including age (McFarlane et al 2001 ; Caldin et al 2005 ; Gurgoze and Icen 2010 ; Melo et al 2013 ; Padalino et al 2014 ; Girardi et al 2014 ;), sex (Cetin et al 2009 ; Mirzadeh et al 2010 ; Uluisik et al 2013 ; Girardi et al 2013 , 2014 ), breed (Tibbo et al 2004 ; Lacerda et al 2006 ; Orozco et al 2007 ; Šimpraga et al 2013 ), seasons (Dmoch et al 2008 ; Adenkola et al 2011 ; Mirzadeh et al 2010 ; Abdelatif and Alameen 2012 ; Babeker et al 2013 ; Šimpraga et al 2013 ), diet (Ekenyem and Madubruke 2000 ; Iyayi 2001 ; Kumar et al 2005 ), health status and sub-clinical disease (Rose and Hodgson 1994 ; Petrov et al 2011 ; Kalai et al 2012 ) work or exercise (Piccione et al 2001 ; Zobba et al 2011 ; Kedzierski et al 2009 ; Miranda et al 2011 ) and pregnancy (Harvey et al 1994 ; Orozco et al 2007 ; Satué et al 2010a , b ; Farooq et al 2011 ; Okonkwo et al 2011 ; Aoki and Ishii 2012 ).…”

The effect of age and sex on serum proteins in the Pega donkey (Equus asinus)

“…Currently, the Brazilian Association of Pega Donkey Breeders (ABCJ Pega) has approximately 2000 members and about 20 000 mules and donkeys registered (Canisso and McDonnell 2010). However, only a limited amount of research has been performed on the haematological and serum biochemical variables of this breed (Campos et al 1968;Girardi et al 2014;Girardi et al 2015;Girardi et al 2016).…”