Haematological Profile of Marecha Male Camel ( Camelus dromedarius ) during Rutting and Non-Rutting Season under Farming System

| This study was undertaken to investigate haematological parameters of Pakistani male dromedary camel in rutting and non-rutting conditions. Five clinically healthy male Marecha camels of 5-10 years old having average body weight of 690±40 kg were studied for haematology in non-rut (August) and rut (February) season. The animals were kept in semi-open pens throughout the experiment, fed with concentrate, fodder, gram straw and available jungle grazing/browsing daily for 4-6 hr. Water was provided twice daily. The animals were dewormed and vaccinated regularly after three months, according to routine farm practices. Haematological parameters were analyzed on haematology analyzer. Haemoglobin (Hb), red blood cell (RBC) counts, white blood cell (WBC) counts, granulocyte, lymphocytes, packed cell volume (PCV), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH) and mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC) were determined. The Hb concentrations (P>0.05) were found to be 14.86±1.28 and 14.26±1.12 gm/dl respectively in non-rut and rut season, being higher in non-rutting males. The values of RBC, WBC, PCV, MCV and MCHC were found to be differed significantly (P<0.05) among groups being higher in non-rutting males except WBC which was higher in rutting camels. The values of granulocytes, lymphocytes and MCH were found to be non-significantly (P>0.05) varied among groups. The findings are discussed in relation to reported results and could be used as a primary database for future studies.


INTRODUCTION
L ike other farm animals camels are classified as ruminants but pseudo-ruminant regarding the variation in stomach anatomy. Unlike other ruminants, they have no horns, have long necks and evenly padded feet with two toes (Al-Harbi, 2012). They are capable of using water very efficiently (Faraz et al., 2019a). Camels are animals with a very high level of red blood cells which are oval in shape and have the capacity to fill up to 230% at the availability of water. Due to this ability, camels have no match in thriving under hostile environments (Osman and Al-Busadah, 2003;Faraz, 2020a).
These mammals are classified as real dervishes i.e. dromedary (single humped), bactrian (double humped), new world (llama and alpaca) and South American (guanaco and vicuna) (Bogin, 2000). As mentioned above, old world camels are basically divided into two groups as Dromedary or Arabian (Camelus dromedarius) and Bactrian (Camelus bactrianus). While Arabian camels have one hump, Bactrian camels have two humps (Faraz et al., 2019b). One-humped or Arabian camels are well-adapted to hot, harsh and arid environments. Cameleers breed Investigation of blood constituents could provide valuable outputs and indications about the general health status and physiological condition of animals. Observation of deviation of certain blood parameters from normal range could be an indication for diagnosis/differential diagnosis of a diseased condition (Abebe et al., 2002). Realizing this, it is evident that increased fundamental knowledge of hemogram and blood metabolites contributes greatly to the understanding of physiology in dromedaries.
Male dromedary camels are known as seasonal breeders, where the breeding season is confined to the cool winter months of the year (Marai et al., 2009). In rutting condition, the male exhibits morphological, behavioral and endocrinological changes. In addition to this there are also haematological alterations (Dessouky, 1992). The rut stage in a male can last up to 100 days. However, the marked peak in sexual activity is during the breeding season. It is generally thought that the male is sexually quiescent for the remainder of the year but is still capable of mating and fertilizing the estrous female at any time of the year (Tibary and Anouassi, 1997).
As the haematological picture serves as an indicator of health and physiological status, many researchers studied camel hematology influenced by season, age, health status and lactation stage in Saudi-Arabia, Sudan and Iran (Al-Busadah and Osman, 2000;Jalali et al., 2018). However, in Pakistan, only limited information on camel hematology is available, with most of the research work being survey reports under the traditional system (Faraz et al., 2018;Faraz et al., 2019d). The previous studies do not justify the requirements of subject; therefore, this study was planned to investigate haematological indices of the Pakistani Marecha male dromedary camel during rutting and non-rutting season, under the farming system at Thal desert. These results could be useful in building the country's database for future studies of this field.

locATioN oF sTudy AreA
The CBRS is located in the deserted plain of Thal. There is subtropical, continental, and arid to semi-arid climate, having mean summer temperature as 45.6 ºC and winter as 5.5-1.3 ºC. Annual mean rainfall is 150-350 mm increasing from South to North (Rahim et al., 2011).

experimeNTAl ANimAls ANd mANAgemeNT
Five male camels of Marecha breed of 5-10 years old with average body weight of 690±40 kg reared under semiintensive conditions were used for sampling. All animals were found physically healthy and were dewormed by injection 1% Ivermectin @ 1ml/50 kg body weight after every three months. Animals were sprayed with Ecofleece solution @ 1cc/liter water for animals and 2cc/liter of water for shed. They were vaccinated for Trypnosomiasis by injection Trypamedium-Samorine (Isometamidium chloride) 1 gm sachet for four adult camels after every three months as per farm routine practices. They were housed in semi-open pens at farm.

sAmpliNg ANd lAb ANAlysis
Blood films from all animals were examined. Camels were properly restrained before collection of blood sample. The jugular vein was cleaned and treated with antiseptic (spirit) before and after collection of the blood. Blood samples were collected from jugular vein into test tubes; EDTA was used as anticoagulant and immediately analyzed. Haematological parameters were analyzed on haematology analyzer (BC 2300, Mindray Germany). Samplings were done weekly for the period of one month and all tests were performed in duplicate. Hb, RBC, WBC, Granulocytes, Lymphocytes, PCV, MCV, MCH and MCHC were determined.

sTATisTicAl ANAlysis
The SPSS (SPSS, 2008) software was used to analyze the data statistically by applying t-test on different parameters (Gecer et al., 2016;Akin et al., 2017).

resulTs ANd discussioN hAemoglobiN
The mean values of Hb (P>0.05) were found to be

Advances in Animal and Veterinary Sciences
February 2021 | Volume 9 | Issue 2 | Page 177 14.86±1.28, 14.26±1.12 gm/dl respectively in non-rutting and rutting males being normal but higher in nonrutting camels (Table 1). Hb was found greater in males as compared to females, probably due to increased level of erythropoiesis which is accelerated by erythropoietin in response to the testosterone effects on kidneys (Murphy, 2014). Hb concentrations varied between 13 to 16 gm/dl, slightly higher compared to other domestic species.
Current findings are very near to the reported results of

rbc ANd Wbc
The mean values of RBC and WBC were found to be varied significantly (P<0.05) among groups, being a higher concentration of RBC in non-rutting and WBC in rutting males. The granulocytes and lymphocytes concentration were found to be varied non-significantly (P>0.05) among groups ( Table 1).
The mean values of RBC counts are comparable to that reported by Al-Busadah and Osman (2000) These differences may be due to different geographical, climatic and genetic variations (Saeed and Hussein, 2008).

Advances in Animal and Veterinary Sciences
February 2021 | Volume 9 | Issue 2 | Page 178 Reported concentrations of RBC (10 6 /µl) and WBC (10 3 / µl) were 10.55±1.39, 10.30±1.68; 10.90±1.04, 10.10±1.20; 9.87±1.33, 9.70±1.48; 8.90±1.45, 10.5±1.89 during pre-rut, non-rut, post-rut and rut season in male dromedary camels (Al-Harbi, 2012). Current study results are in agreement with these findings as RBC concentration was observed lower in rut season while the WBC concentration was found higher in rut season. The lymphocytes and granulocytes percentages in present study were also found to be higher in rutting males. These measurements could be used as indication of rut, so the breeding season of dromedary male can be diagnosed by testing these parameters.

pcV, mcV, mch ANd mchc
The mean values of PCV, MCV and MCHC were found to be varied significantly (P<0.05) while MCH nonsignificantly (P>0.05) among groups. All values were found to be normal but on the higher side in non-rutting camels (Table 1). In the present study, the values found are very close to the observed results by Al-Harbi (2012) (Sarwar and Majeed, 1997). The reported MCH concentrations were higher than reported values by Al Busadah and Osman (2000), Amin et al. (2007), Al Busadah (2007) and Saeed and Hussein (2008). MCHC values are greater in the current study as compared to the values reported by (Al-Busadah, 2004;Saeed and Hussein, 2008). These higher values showed that the oxygen carrying capacity of camel blood is more, as reported by (Rezakhani et al., 1997;Al-Busadah and Osman, 2000).

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The study of blood parameters could serve as mirror of animal welfare and, consequently of general health status and physiological condition. Indeed, rutting season could affect animal welfare, which is considered related to animal's needs, influencing on nutrition, behaviour, and reproduction (Previti et al., 2016). This study has documented the haematological indices in Pakistani Marecha male dromedary camels in breeding and nonbreeding season. The elevated levels of blood parameters like WBC, granulocytes and lymphocytes affected by rutting condition, while other parameters i.e. RBC, PCV, MCV, MCH and MCHC were found lower in rutting season which affect general physiological state and function including sexual performance. Consequently, these parameters could be used to detect the rutting dromedary males and the results will be a useful addition in primary database of country.