A STUDY ON SOME BIOCHEMICAL PARAMETERS AND BLOOD MINERALS IN LAMBS WITH EXPERIMENTALLY INDUCED HAEMONCHUS CONTORTUS INFECTION

This study was focused on changes of some minerals and blood metabolites during experimentally induced H. contortus infection in lambs. A total of 12 animals were included in the study and were divided into experimental (n=6) and control (n=6) groups. The lambs from experimental group were orally inoculated with 4000 infective H. contortus larvae (L3) by placing a probe. Blood parameters (calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, creatitine, glucose, total bilirubin, urea and alkaline phosphatase) were monitored on post infection days 0 and 21. The most pronounced changes occurred in urea and alkaline phosphatase levels, which increased significantly on day 21 (p<0.05) and reached values of 12.17±0.24 mmol/L and 334.17±32.3 U/L, respectively. The concentration of urea in experimental group was higher by 46.82% compared to control group. Alkaline phosphatase activity was also increased by 55.07% vs. control group. Mild changes occured in plasma concentrations of calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, creatinine, glucose and total bilirubin but were not considered significant throughout the experiment.