. 2010 Jul 20;6:36. doi: 10.1186/1746-6148-6-36

Table 2.

Treatment effects on haematological variables pre and post-transport in control and transported (RT and ULT) animals (n = 20 animals/treatment)

Variable	d 0 pre-transport	d 2 Arrival in French lairage	D 3 post-12 h lairage	d 4 arrival in Spain	d 6 post-transport	d 8 post-transport	d 10 post-transport	d 34 post-transport
White blood cell (WBC) number (1×10³μL)
Control	9.20 ± 0.57^ax	8.20 ± 0.41^abx	8.60 ± 0.54^abx	7.90 ± 0.75^abx	8.90 ± 0.75^abx	7.81 ± 0.49^abx	7.40 ± 0.44^bx	9.66 ± 0.47^bx
RT	10.10 ± 0.57^ax	20.90 ± 2.30^by	15.40 ± 1.99^by	23.10 ± 1.43^by	15.00 ± 1.43^by	12.60 ± 1.01^by	18.70 ± 1.74^by	13.10 ± 1.22^by
ULT	9.00 ± 0.59^ax	16.70 ± 16.0^by	14.0 ± 1.16^by	17.80 ± 1.31^by	15.60 ± 1.31^by	14.10 ± 1.45^by	16.10 ± 1.07^by	11.14 ± 0.95^by

Neutrophil percentage (%)
Control	36.25 ± 2.70^abx	32.95 ± 2.705^bx	38.22 ± 3.10^abx	33.20 ± 3.00^bx	35.95 ± 2.85^bx	38.10 ± 2.11^abx	42.10 ± 2.42^ax	32.44 ± 3.30^bx
RT	38.00 ± 2.72^abx	37.16 ± 2.76^abx	39.20 ± 2.97^abx	43.95 ± 3.01^bx	37.16 ± 2.92^abx	42.67 ± 2.21^bx	33.79 ± 2.50^axy	40.68 ± 3.10^abx
ULT	37.30 ± 2.70^abx	34.35 ± 2.70^abx	37.78 ± 3.10^abx	38.84 ± 3.00^abx	34.55 ± 2.85^abx	37.53 ± 2.25^abx	31.47 ± 2.48^aby	36.06 ± 3.23^abx

Lymphocyte percentage (%)
Control	62.35 ± 2.86^abx	64.26 ± 2.74^abx	60.11 ± 3.02^bx	65.85 ± 2.92^abx	62.85 ± 2.87^abx	60.40 ± 2.05^abx	57.30 ± 2.47^ax	64.88 ± 14.14^abx
RT	59.80 ± 2.90^abx	58.63 ± 2.70^abx	59.15 ± 2.92^abx	53.89 ± 3.00^bx	61.37 ± 2.14^abx	54.94 ± 2.53^bx	65.68 ± 3.10^axy	58.42 ± 15.62^abx
ULT	59.15 ± 2.80^abx	62.05 ± 2.70^abx	59.89 ± 3.01^abx	59.00 ± 2.96^abx	63.25 ± 2.86^abx	60.82 ± 2.20^abx	68.32 ± 2.53^aby	62.82 ± 12.51^abx

Neutrophil:Lymphocyte ratio
Control	0.81 ± 0.13^abx	0.70 ± 0.08^abx	0.73 ± 0.10^abx	1.00 ± 0.13^bx	0.68 ± 0.09^abx	0.82 ± 0.06^abx	0.59 ± 0.08^ax	0.89 ± 0.13^abx
RT	0.70 ± 0.13^abx	0.61 ± 0.08^abx	0.79 ± 0.10^abx	0.81 ± 0.13^bxy	0.64 ± 0.08^abx	0.65 ± 0.06^by	0.49 ± 0.07^axy	0.64 ± 0.13^abx
ULT	0.69 ± 0.13^abx	0.58 ± 0.78^abx	0.70 ± 0.10^abx	0.54 ± 0.13^aby	0.63 ± 0.08^abx	0.67 ± 0.06^abxy	0.80 ± 0.07^aby	0.57 ± 0.14^abx

Haematocrit (HCT) (%)
Control	39.49 ± 0.57^axy	39.09 ± 0.41^abx	38.32 ± 0.54^bx	36.71 ± 0.66^bx	36.51 ± 0.75^bx	36.54 ± 0.49^bx	35.39 ± 0.44^bx	33.69 ± 0.47^bx
RT	39.18 ± 0.67^ax	34.41 ± 0.74^by	32.17 ± 1.25^by	32.26 ± 0.56^by	31.36 ± 0.65^by	29.75 ± 0.68^by	29.78 ± 0.63^by	28.09 ± 0.66^by
ULT	40.23 ± 0.59^ay	33.63 ± 0.90^by	32.06 ± 1.16^by	32.98 ± 1.69^by	32.01 ± 1.31^by	30.97 ± 1.45^by	30.74 ± 1.07^by	28.97 ± 0.95^by

The values are expressed as mean ± s.e. Control = not transported; RT (transported animals that remained on the transporter at the French lairage for 12 h) and ULT animals transported (transported animals that were unloaded at the French lairage for a 12 h rest period) at a stocking density of 0.93 m²per animal;^a,bWithin a row, means not having a common superscript differ significantly (P < 0.05);^x,ywithin a column at each sampling time point (day (d)), treatment means differ by P < 0.05. Data were analysed using SAS/STAT (9.1 (SAS Inst. Inc., Cary, NC, USA). The differences between means were tested using the Tukey-Kramer test for multiple comparisons.