Normal Hematological Parameters of Barb Horses Raised in Tiaret, West of Algeria

Barb horse, pride of the Berbers, is a famous Maghreb horse of a particular significance in the
Algerian history, tradition and culture.
This study aims to establish the hematologic values specific to the barb horse in the national stud
farm “Chaou-Chaoua” in Tiaret, Algeria. Age of the studied animals varied between 1 and 23 years.
The effects of age and sex were analyzed by categorizing the horses into two groups of four
subgroups: A (1 - 2 years, n=5), B (3-5 years, n=5), C (5-10 years, n=5) and D (11-23 years, n=5) for
females and E (2 - 3 years, n=5), F (5-7, n=5), G (10, n=5) and H (11-25, n=5) for males. Blood
samples of all these healthy horseswere obtained to determine the following hematologic variables:
erythrocytes (RBC), hematocrit (Ht), hemoglobin (Hb), mean cell volume (MCV), mean corpuscular
hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), mean hemoglobin content (MHC), white blood cells (WBC),
neutrophils, eosinophils, basophils, lymphocytes, monocytes, platelets, total number of platelets (PLT)
and mean platelet volume (MPV). The obtained results showed that the hematologic values are within
established standards ofother breeds of hot-blooded horses. Values of RBCs, HCT, Hb, WBCs and
lymphocytesapproached the lower limits of these standards. Statically significant (P˂0.05) differences
were observed between females in different age groups for MCV, MCHC, Platelets and the MPV.
Groups of males showed significant differences for lymphocytes and platelets. Between males and
females, significant differences were related to MCV, Neutrophils, Basophils Monocytes, Platelet and
MPV.This research showed that these hematologic parameters are weak, as they approach the lower
limits of the standards, and that neither age, nor sex seems to have an influence on the hematologic
values of the Barb horse.