PRELIMINARY STUDIES INVALIDATE AUTOMATED HAEMO-ANALYZER RESULTS OF AVIAN BLOOD

Experiments were performed with the aim of determining the complete blood cell count of broiler chickens reared on 24-h continuous lighting photoperiod regimens using an automated haemoanalyzer. Six Marshal broiler chickens, randomly selected from a flock of three hundred served as subjects. On the experimental day. 2 ml of blood was collected from the wing vein of each bird at 13:00 h into ethylenediaminetetra acetic acid bottle. The blood was analyzed immediately using automated electronic cell counter for haematocrit, haemoglobin, red blood count, mean cell volume, mean corpuscular haemoglobin, mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration, red cell distribution width, thrombocytes, mean thrombocyte volume, thrombocyte distribution width, thrombocyte large cell ratio, total and differential leucocyte counts with their percentages. The automated machine did not process 50 % of the samples for red cell distribution width. Also, 83.33 % of the samples for mean thrombocyte volume, thrombocyte distribution width and thrombocyte large cell ratio were not processed by the machine. It is concluded that results of broiler chicken blood analyzed using automated haemoanalyzer may be accepted, but should be interpreted with caution.