Preliminary study regarding the effect of season on haematological parameters in Syrian Awassi rams

Abstract Four apparently healthy Syrian Awassi rams were used for one year. Jugular blood samples were collected from the rams once a week to determine some essential blood components (13) using a Veterinary Haematology Analyzer. The overall means were: 8.92 × 103/mm3 for White Blood Cells (WBC), 5.91% for Lymphocytes (LYM), 1.00 % for Monocytes (MON), 2.62% for Granulocytes (GRA), 7.94 × 103/mm3 for Red Blood Cells (RBC), 10.24 g/dL for Haemoglobin (Hb), 30.93% for Haematocrit (HCT), 39.12fL for Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV), 12.57 pg for Mean Cell Haemoglobin (MCH), 33.10g/dL for Mean Corpuscular Haemoglobin Concentration (MCHC), 16.34 % for Red Cell Distribution Width (RDW), 577.3 ×103/mm3 for Platelet Counts (PLT) and 3.99 fL for Mean Platelet Volume (MPV), with variations in the values among individuals. There were differences in the value means among the months of the year in some components, where the overall means of WBC, LYM, MON, GRA, HGB, MCH and MCHC were significantly (P<0.05) higher in winter as compared to summer months, whereas, MCV means were significantly (P<0.05) higher in summer as compared to winter months, whereas there were no significant (P>0.05) differences in the means of RBC, RDW, PLT or MPV among summer and winter months.