Preliminary Study of the Influence of Red Blood Cells Size on the Determinism of the Breed in Cattle

Abstract

This study was carried out on five cattle groups, local, cross, Prim’Holstein, Montbeliard, and Brown of the Alps, in order to study the influence of breed on erythrocytes diameter. For each breed, blood samples were taken from 15 adult females by jugular venipuncture; blood smears were made on slides immediately after the blood collection and stained according to the method of May-Gründwald Giemsa. Morphometric study was realized using the OPTIKA Pro Vision software. The statistical analysis was assessed by using the descriptive boxplots test and ANOVA. The size of red blood cells is greater in the imported Brown of the Alps breed (5,32 ± 0,19) and also in our local breed (5,23 ± 0,10), whereas they were smaller in the Montbeliard breed (4,79 ± 0,21). This investigation allowed us to show that from a drop of blood we can have an idea of the bovine breeds, taking into account the size of the erythrocytes.