PATULIN - INDUCED CHANGES IN HAEMATOLOGICAL PARAMETERS OF RABBITS FED BY STRAWBERRY LEAVES AFTER 3 WEEKS EXPOSURE

Abstract

The subject of the present study was to determinate the effect of strawberry leaves inclusion into the feed mixture and single dose of patulin on haematological parameters of rabbits: white blood cell count (WBC), lymphocytes count (LYM), medium size cell count (MID), granulocytes count (GRA), lymphocyte percentage (LYM%), medium size cell percentage (MI%), granulocytes percentage (GRA%), red blood cell count (RBC), haemoglobin (HGB), haematocrit (HCT), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC), red cell distribution width (RDWc), platelet count (PLT), platelet percentage (PCT), mean platelet volume (MPV) and platelet distribution width (PDWc). Fifteen rabbits of broiler line Californian were used in this experiment. Animals were divided into four groups, one control group C (n =3) and three experimental groups E1, E2 and E3 (n = 4 in each group). Rabbits were fed with a granular feed mixture (FM) with strawberry leaves in various doses and all groups received patulin in injectable form at 10 µg.kg-1 for 21 days 2 times a week. The investigation was performed with haematology analyzer Abacus junior VET (Diatron®, Vienna, Austria). Significant decrease in MI% and MID in experimental group E3 in comparison with the control group was found. The values of other parameters (WBC, LYM, LY%, GRA, GR%, RBC, HGB, HCT, MCV, MCH, MCHC, RDWc, PLT, MPV and PDWc) in all groups corresponded with normal haematological values in rabbit´s blood.