Morphological and functional features of boar erythrocytes under environmental and technological stress and their effect on the leukocyte composition of the blood
Authors: Garskaya N. , Tkachev A. 
Published: January 2023

Purpose: study the response possibilities of boar blood erythrocytes to the conditions of environmental and technological stress; to establish possible reference intervals for their morphological and functional parameters and to evaluate their effect on the leukocyte composition of the blood.

Materials and methods. At the first stage, all the Poltava meat breed main boars of the breeding herd were examined. In accordance with the possibilities of providing the oxygen budget of the organism, the boars were divided into two groups according to the principle of analogue pairs. The control group (I) consisted of boars, in which the indicators of erythrocyte number and hemoglobin corresponded to the reference values indicated in the literature. The experimental group (II) consisted of animals that were not included in the control group. All animals belonged to the “elite” and “first” classes and were clinically healthy. Ecological and technological factors acted as stressors. The following was determined in the blood: the number of erythrocytes, hemoglobin, leukocytes, leukocyte blood picture (formula). Calculated: hemoglobin index (color index), hemoglobin content in 1 erythrocyte (pg) (MCH). To characterize the stage of stress, we used the integral hematological index of the ratio of lymphocytes and neutrophils – the leukocyte index. The results obtained were processed statistically.

Results. The use of industrial production technology in the farm turned out to be stress-realizing for the boars of the main Poltava meat breed herd. Most of the examined boars of the herd (64.7±1.3 %) had, in these keeping conditions, in general, well-formed mechanisms for an adequate response of the adaptive potential, which manifested itself in maintaining the number of erythrocytes and hemoglobin in the blood at the level of literary reference intervals. Under conditions of environmental and technological stress, with a probability of 95 %, the reference interval established by us in terms of the number of erythrocytes in the blood of boars in the control group was 5.63-7.12 x1012 /l, in terms of the amount of hemoglobin in the blood - 100.54-115 .65 g/l. After the “selection of animals” according to the “physiological” indicators of erythrocytes and hemoglobin, the average values of erythrocyte indices in boars of the control group significantly decreased compared to the experimental group. In boars with a physiological level of provision of the oxygen budget of the body, the stress reaction took place without straining the functional capabilities of the body. A more stable, lower value of the volume index of neutrophils and lymphocytes variability level in the blood; a significantly higher, but not out of the literature reference intervals, content of monocytes and stab neutrophils in the blood was observed.

Conclusion. The action of environmental and technological factors in boars undoubtedly leads to the development of a stress reaction and causes changes in the composition of the blood, both in the erythrocyte and leukocyte links. At the same time, the level and direction of adaptive reactions depend on the possibilities of providing the oxygen budget of the organism.