EFFECTS OF SEASON, SEX AND AGE ON BODY WEIGHT, PACKED CELL VOLUME, HAEMOGOLOBIN AND FEACAL EGG COUNT IN INDEGENOUS BREEDS OF SHEEP IN GOMBE STATE

Résumé

The study investigated the effects of breed, season, sex and age on body weight, packed cell volume, Haemoglobin concentration and Faecal egg count of some indigenous breeds of sheep in Gombe State between March and October, 2017. Stratified random sampling was applied to collect the 300 samples comprising of 130 Yankasa, and 73 Balami 97 Uda sheep. Faecal egg count was measured using the modified McMaster technique for faecal samples found positive forgastro intestinal parasite eggs. Packed cell volume (PCV) was determined by micro-haematocrit technique. Faecal egg count (FEC) significantly (P<0.001) differed among the breeds with highest value of 1271.65epg recorded in Uda. Balami and Uda had higher values of body weight than Yankasa. There were no breed effects on PCV and HBC recorded in this study. Seasonal effects on BWT, PCV, HbC and FEC was observed with the wet season recording higher values of 32.32kg,36.04%, 11.99g/dl and 1140.95epg.This could be attributed to the fact that wet season is the period of lush pasture which has positive influence on BWT, PCV, and HbC. Furthermore, the wet season is a suitable period for the development of the infective stages of the Gastro intestinal parasites and hence higher burden. Age of sheep affected the values of BWT, PCV, HbC and FEC significantly. The values of 45.02kg,32.43%,10.82g/dl and 725.34epg forBWT, PCV, HbC and FEC respectively were significantly higher in adult than the younger sheep. This could be attributed to the fact that these parameters normally increase with age and physiological changes.