The Effect of Age, Sex and Altitude on the Morphometry of Red Blood Cells in Small Ruminants

This study has been conducted in sheep (ouled-djellal breed) and goats (arbia breed) in three regions of different altitude in the East and the South of Algeria (Batna, Biskra and El-Oued) in order to reveal the effect of age, sex and altitude on the morphometry of red blood cells. The results showed a significant influence of age on the morphometry of red blood cells, the young ovine’s and caprine’s red blood cells are significantly larger than the adult’s erythrocytes in the three regions. Indeed, sex have a significant influence on the size of ovine red blood cells, the erythrocytes of females are significantly larger than the males erythrocytes in the three region. Whereas, sex did not have any influence on the morphometry of caprine’s red blood cells in the three region. The altitude has a significant effect on the morphometry of erythrocytes and a significant difference was observed, the ovine’s and caprine’s red blood cells of Batna group are significantly larger than the ovine’s and caprine’s red blood cells of Biskra and El-Oued groups. Therefore, age, sex and altitude have profound effect on the morphometry of red blood cells and careful attention must be observed in studying and interpretation of anemic syndromes.