365 The Extent and Pattern of Correlation Among Blood Parameters Differed Between Pasture-raised Goats and Sheep

Abstract

Abstract Various blood parameters are generally used to monitor the nutrient status and health condition of goats and sheep. Relationship of a parameter with others may be useful to depict a bigger picture when that parameter is known. However, information on how different blood parameters are related to each other in goats and sheep has not been documented well. The objective of this study was to determine the correlation among different blood parameters in goats and sheep, both within and between species. Kiko does (19; 15–16 m old; live wt. 34±1.4 kg) and Katahdin ewes (18; 21–22 m old; live wt. 40±1.4 kg) were rotationally stocked in fall pastures for 87 days. Blood samples were collected on Day 1, Day 47, and Day 87, and analyzed for 34 blood parameters. Data were analyzed for Pearson Correlation Coefficients (r) (ɑ= 0.05) in SAS 9.4. In does, concentration of red blood cells (RBC) was found positively correlated with hemoglobin (HGB) (r=0.68), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) (r=0.36), albumin (r=0.36), and cholesterol concentrations (r=0.34) (P < 0.05). However, RBC concentration was negatively correlated with mean corpuscular volume (MCV) (r=-0.58) and mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) (r=-0.71) (P < 0.0001). Cholesterol was found positively correlated with hematocrit, hemoglobin, lymphocyte, basophil, calcium, albumin, and chlorine, and negatively correlated with neutrophil and amylase (P < 0.05). In ewes, RBC concentration was found positively correlated with hematocrit (r=0.81) and hemoglobin (r=0.84) (P < 0.0001), and negatively correlated with MCV (r=-0.29), MCH (r=-0.59), MCHC (r=-0.42) and mean platelet volume (r=-0.39) (P < 0.05). Cholesterol was found positively correlated with creatinine, calcium, gamma-glutamyl transferase, and potassium, and negatively correlated with glucose, blood urea nitrogen, and lipase (P < 0.05). Results show that blood parameters are correlated with one another, and the correlation pattern and extent among blood parameters occur differently in goats and sheep.