Red blood cell counts in sows during lactation

Abstract

In the course of parturition and lactation, sows are susceptible to stress and make an effort to adapt to the newly-formed situation through different endocrine and metabolic mechanisms. In addition to endocrine, biochemical changes, hematological changes also occur in the sow organism. Having these facts in mind, the objective of this work was to examine the changes in the number of erythrocytes, hemoglobin concentration, hematocrit value, hematological indexes: mean corpuscular erythrocyte volume (MCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) in erythrocyte and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) in erythrocytes, as well as sedimentation values during the period of lactation in sows. The experiment was performed on ten sows of the Swedish Landrace breed, from which blood was taken on the first day postpartum (1-6 h), and during the third and fourth weeks of lactation. The obtained results of hematological analyses indicated a reduced number of erythrocytes, haemoglobin concentration and hematocrit value during the lactation period. The number of erythrocytes was significantly lower at the end of lactation in comparison with the number established on the first day postpartum. The hemoglobin concentration and hematocrit value were very significantly lower at the end of lactation against the first day postpartum. The values of the hematological indexes MCV, MCH and MCHC did not differ significantly in any of the examined periods. The rate of erythrocyte sedimentation was determined 1 h and 2 h postpartum.