THE LEUCOGRAM AND OSMOTIC FRAGILITY OF ISA WHITE AND BARRED PLYMOUTH ROCK COCKS FED VARYING LEVELS OF DIETARY SALT

Abstract

This experiment was performed to determine the effect of feeding varying levels of dietary salt on the differential leucocyte count (leucogram) and osmotic fragility of Barred Plymouth Rock (BPR) and Isa White (IW) breeding cocks. Four experimental diets (control diet and three other diets) designated as: TI (control diet with 0.25 % salt), T2 (diet with 0.50 % salt), T3 (0.75 % salt), T4 (1.00 % salt) were fed to 24 cocks of the two different breeds grouped into six birds per treatment. At the end of eight weeks of experiment, blood Samples were collected through venipuncture for the determination of the leucogram and red blood cell osmotic fragility. The result obtained for the white blood cell (WBC) count showed that there was no significant breed difference in percentage neutrophils, monocytes and lymphocytes between Barred Plymouth Rock (BPR) and Isa White (IW) but percentage eosinophils (3.30+0.15 versus 3.1 0£0.10) and basophils (1.60+0.16 versus 1.80+0,13 ) however differed (P<0.05) between the two breeds respectively. Results on osmotic fragility revealed that the red blood cells of birds on the high salt diets were more osmotically fragile than the control diet. However, T2 conferred the least osmotic stability on the layers while T1 had the best. There was no breed difference in the osmotic fragility between the BPR and IM cocks. Also the interaction between treatment levels and breed showed that BPR breed is more sensitive to osmotic Fragility at all salineconcentrations and dietary levels than the IW breed. It can be concluded that increase in the dietary salt up to 1.00 % level has no significant effect on the two commercial breeding cocks as far as their differential leucocyte count is concerned. Also, The IW seemed the more osmotically stable breed as Jar as their erythrocytic osmotic fragility is concerned.