The Comparative Study of the Blood Cellular Composition in Muscovy Ducks in Nigeria

Twelve blood samples were obtained from four male and eight female adult Muscovy ducks which were raised semi-intensively. The total and differential blood counts as well as study of the blood cellular characteristics were carried out in this study. We report herein that the male Muscovy ducks had a higher average erythrocyte count (2.5 x 106/mm3) than the female Muscovy ducks (2.20 x 106/mm3). The Muscovy ducks average erythrocyte counts were lower than the average counts reported for temperate breed of ducks but higher than those reported for Nigerian domestic chicken. No significant differences in the average total leucocyte count between the male and female Muscovy ducks was observed. The average total leucocytes count for the Muscovy ducks were higher than those reported for the temperate breeds of ducks and the Nigerian domestic chicken. Higher average lymphocyte count was recorded for the male Muscovy ducks (72.75%) than the female Muscovy ducts (61.37%) while a lower basophil average counts was recorded for the male Muscovy ducks (0.75%) than the female Muscovy ducks (1.5%). The esinophils had a diverse number of lobulation on their nucleus and spherical intracytoplasmic granules while the heterophils had an irregular cellular outline and a spindle shaped intracytoplasmic granules. Taken together, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first comparative study of the blood cellular composition in Muscovy ducks in Nigeria