Some hematological and biochemical parameters of different goat breeds in Sultanate of Oman “A preliminary study”

AIM: In Sultanate of Oman, goats are considered as one of the most important livestock in which there are many breeds of goat such as Batinah, Jabali, Dhofari, Jabal Al-Akhdar, Sahrawi, and Sahrawi Musandam. Little hematological and biochemical information is known on Omani goat breeds; therefore, the main purpose of this study was to determine reference baseline data regarding hematological and biochemical values of different Omani goat breeds. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 30 healthy animals of different Omani goat breeds (Jabali, Jabal Al-Akhdar, Sahrawi, and Sahrawi Musandam) were selected randomly from different areas in Sultanate of Oman. The blood samples were collected from the jugular vein into two tubes for blood hematology and biochemical analysis. Statistical analysis was applied by using GraphPad Prism 7 software to calculate the minimum and maximum values to determine the range, mean, standard deviation of the mean and the p value. RESULTS: No statistically significant variation in most hematological and biochemical parameters was found among the Omani goat breeds. The results of blood hematology revealed that the mean white blood cells (14.6±3.32 ×10(3)/µL), and the percentage of neutrophils in Omani goats (60.87±8.46%) were higher than that in most goat breeds. Higher values of red blood cells (12.8±1.28 ×10(6)/µL), hemoglobin (10.4±1.92 g/dl), hematocrit (38.29±4.06%), and lower values of mean corpuscular HGB concentration (27.05±3.5 g/dl) were observed in Omani goat breeds comparing to that in the other goat breeds. Lower values of total bilirubin (0.22±0.03 mg/dl), blood urea nitrogen (14.62±2.66 mg/dl), and cholesterol (48.58±19.05 mg/dl) were found in Omani goat breeds when compared to that of the other goat breeds. CONCLUSION: The obtained results are considered as the first values to be published for the different Omani goat breeds. This study is considered as preliminary study which can be used as a reference for further studies to determine reference values for the studied breeds to aid the veterinarians in the interpretation of the laboratory data and for the selection of the appropriate treatment.