Assessment of Hematological Indices of Indian Peafowl (Pavo Cristatus) Kept at Wildlife Breeding Centre, Gatwala, Faisalabad, Pakistan

Indian peafowl (Pavo cristatus) or blue peafowl has been maintained in captivity since long where due to selective breeding, several color mutations/varieties have appeared of which white peafowl, black-shouldered peafowl and pied peafowl are common. Since, hematological analysis is crucial for clinical diagnosis of wild and captive avifauna, so we collected blood samples from healthy male blue peafowl, white peafowl and blackshouldered peafowl kept at Wildlife Breeding Centre, Gatwala, Faisalabad and compared erythrocyte and leucocyte indices among them. Our results indicated that blood physiological values for MO (%), Hgb, HCT, MCH and MCHC were significantly different (P<0.05) between blue peafowl and white peafowl whereas MCV and RDW were significantly different (P<0.05) between blue peafowl and black-shouldered peafowl. The comparison of hematological parameters between white peafowl and black-shouldered peafowl showed that GR(%), RBC, HCT, MCV and MCHC differ significantly (P<0.05) between the two varieties. Our results support the studies indicating high quality color patterns reflect increased resistance and immunity to pathogens. 

Keywords: Indian peafowl, Color Mutations, hematology.