Morphological blood indices of bulls in experimental chronic cadmium toxicosis

The article presents the results of research on the influence of cadmium load on the body of young cattle. The purpose of the work was to investigate morphological indices of bulls blood during the development of experimental chronic cadmium toxicity. According to the morphological analysis of the quantitative and qualitative composition of blood, it is possible to deem objectively about the functional state of the hematopoietic system of the organism of young cattle. The research was  conducted (on the basis of the farm of the village of Ivanivtsi, Zhydachiv rayon of the Lviv region) on 10 bulls of six months old, Ukrainian black-and-white milk breed, which were formed in 2 groups of 5 animals in each: control and experimental. Bulls of the control group were in the usual diet. Bulls of the experimental group were fed with a feed with cadmium chloride at a dose of 0.04 mg/kg body weight of the animal. It has been established that feeding Bulls with cadmium chloride in a dose of 0.04 mg/kg of body weight contributed to a decrease in hemoglobin to 84.5 ± 1.60 g/l and an increase in the content of methemoglobin to 5.2 ± 0.099%. The decrease in hemoglobin levels is due to the toxic effect of cadmium on erythrocytes, resulting in damage to erythrocyte membranes and increased content of methemoglobin. Formation of methemoglobin in bull blood during cadmium loading occurs as a result of oxidation of hemoglobin with the formation of superoxide anion, which in turn triggers (begins) free radical processes and exerts a destructive effect on cell membranes, as well as initiates the appearance of other active forms of oxygen. Feeding calcium cadmium chloride in a dose of 0.04 mg/kg contributed to a decrease in the number of erythrocytes in their blood. At day 20 of the experiment, the number of erythrocytes decreased by 14% relative to the control group. Decreasing the number of erythrocytes in the blood of young cattle may have been due to the inhibition of their production in the bone marrow. An important morphological indicator of blood is the determination of the average content of hemoglobin in one erythrocyte, which indicates the saturation of erythrocyte with hemoglobin. It was found that the average hemoglobin content in one erythrocyte of the bulls of the experimental group increased by 11.4 and 13.9% for 5 and 10 days. According to the results of the research, the reduction of the hematocrit values in the experimental group of bulls was detected at 10, 15 and 20 days of the experiment. A significant increase in the number of leukocytes in the blood of the bulls of the experimental group was observed at 15 days of the experiment, according to the control group indicators, it increased by 12%.