This study was carried out on twenty Balady sheep collected from two flocks of sheep at Kalubia Governorate. Ten sheep of them (from one flock) suffered from different degrees of alopecia, unthriftiness, lameness and diarrhea. The other ten sheep (from other flock) were clinically healthy and considered as control. Skin scrapings were taken from alopecic sheep for microscopic examination after addition of KOH 10%, but there were no mites. Two blood samples were obtained from each animal. The first sample was collected with anticoagulant for estimation of blood picture, while the other was collected without anticoagulant for separation of serum on which some biochemical analysis was performed. Alopecic sheep showed a significant decrease (P ≤ 0.01) of haemoglobin and erythrocytic count, while total leucocytic count did not change significantly. Differential leucocytic count indicated a non significant decrease of lymphocytes and a non-significant increase of neutrophils. Biochemical analysis of serum showed a highly significant decrease (P ≤ 0.01) of copper and zinc and a significant decrease (P ≤ 0.05) of manganese, iron, total proteins, albumin and A/G ratio. On the other hand, there was a significant increase (P ≤ 0.05) in serum ALT, AST and urea. It was concluded that alopecia syndrome commonly occurs due to multiple trace element deficiencies, particularly copper and zinc and deficiency of a single element seldom occurs under field condition. |
