Abstract
This experiment was conducted at the Al-Rashidiya Experiment Station General Director of Applied Agriculture Research for the period from March 2004 to March 2005. Thirty two Awassi ewes aged 3 – 5 years with average body weight 47.6 Kg. were used in this experiment. The ewes were divided into 4 groups each of 8 ewes with one ram in each group. Groups of ewes were given one of following:
a. Well hard water.
b. Well water Treated With NaCO3 to reserve the hardness of the well water.
c. Well water with vitamin mixture.
d. Soft water.
The physiological stages Under Investigation were:
1. Service and pregnancy – (June - October).
2. Parturition – (November - January).
3. Suckling – (mid of January – mid of March).
4. Weaning and dry period which lasted from April and May to the next service.
Blood samples were taken from jugular vein 10 ml / animal every 45 days. The pH were measured directly. Each sample was divided into two parts. First part about 5 ml was stored in hepernized tubes to study the physiological traits of the blood such as blood hemoglobin, PCV, ESR, and RBC, WBC account. the second part was stored as serum to measure the levels of serum total protein.
Data showed the following results:
1. The result indicated that the treatment had significant effect (p 0.01) on blood Hemoglobin, PCV, RBC and WBC count, there were no significant effect on blood pH sedimentation rate of RBC and total serum protein.
2. It was noticed that the physiological stage had a significant (P 0.01) effect on HB, RBC count and data showed significant effect (p 0.05) on blood treats such as WBC and total protein there were no significant effect of physiological stages on blood pH, PCV and sedimentation rate of RBC.
3. Significant differences (p 0.05) were noticed of interaction between treatment and physiological stages on WBC count.
