Hematology Reference Intervals for Holstein Cows in Southern China: A Study of 786 Subjects

Abstract

Hematology RIs help clinicians and researchers determine whether a hematology parameter is abnormal, which plays an important role in animal health surveillance. China is one of the largest dairy producers in the world, with millions of Holstein cows. However, there has been no published data on hematology RIs for dairy cows in China yet. Therefore, the aim of this study is to establish updated and accurate RIs for Holstein cows in southern China. To increase the accuracy of the RIs, we collected blood samples from 786 Holstein cows and analyzed 25 hematologic variables. The RIs for Holstein cows were established using the 95% percentile RIs according to the American Society of Veterinary Clinical Pathology guidelines. The effects of different ages, parities and lactation stages were also checked in this study. The data of 21, 22 and 19 out of 25 hematology parameters were significantly different between different ages, parities and lactation stages, respectively. Furthermore, the hematology RIs of separate subclasses according to different ages, parities and lactation stages were generated. Hematology RIs according to ages and lactation stages, as well as parities and lactation stages, were also assessed. Together, our results confirm that hematology RIs for cows vary by ages, parities and lactation stages. The present study helps to fill the gap in hematology RIs for Holstein cows in southern China, and our data may serve as a very useful tool for monitoring the health and welfare of dairy cattle in China.

Haematological Parameters of Lactating Dairy Cows Fed with Total Mixed Ration (TMR) Briquettes

“…The values in the current study were within recommended the range. Chen et al (2022) record that haematological parameters of Holstein cows are 3.99 ± 1.23, 5.35 ± 2.70, 0.62 ± 0.22, 0.48 ± 0.28, and 0.12 ± 0.06, respectively for neutrophils (× 10 9 L -1 ), lymphocytes (× 10 9 L -1 ), monocytes (× 10 9 L -1 ), eosinophils (× 10 9 L -1 ) and basophils (× 10 9 L -1 ). Values reported in this study were closer to the recorded values by Wohlt et al (1984) show a haemotocrit decreased with the lactation stage and younger cows had more haemotocrit than old cows.…”

“…Chen et al (2022). The mean cell volume for Holstein cows was 47.69 ± 4.59 fl(Chen et al 2022). However, these values were lower than the recorded values in the present study.…”

Hematologic and Serum Biochemical Characteristics of Belgian Blue Cattle

“…In order to position our results within the existing scientific landscape, we then compared our proposed breed-specific reference intervals for BB cows and HF cows with recently published reference intervals (Figures 4-6) [4,10,11,[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26].…”

“…In order to position our results within the existing scientific landscape, we then compared our proposed breed-specific reference intervals for BB cows and HF cows with recently published reference intervals (Figures 4-6) [4,10,11,[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]. Comparison between our hematology reference intervals for Belgian blue (BB) and Holstein Friesian ca le (HF) and previously published reference intervals obtained from data sets from 1957 and 2001 [9], 2018 [18], and 2022 [19].…”

Correlations between Selected Blood Markers of Hematological Profile and Milk Components in Dairy Cows

“…In addition a milk sample can have great potential in detection of mastitis, assessing the composition of milk as well as in predicting blood metabolites and the metabolic status of cows [2,3,15,20,26] . High-production cows, in order to maintain the required parameters of fertility and achieve record milk volumes, needs the organs involved to be highly efficient metabolically, including blood as a tissue by enabling adequate intensive gas exchange and a supply of nutrients [6,7,33]. Furthermore, the results of other recent studies confirm that parameters related to metabolism, including blood oxygen and glucose, increase significantly in highly productive animals, and the quality of the blood cells that supports these processes is of significant importance for the health and level of milk yield of cows [29].…”