Table 2.

The total white blood cell, heterophil, lymphocyte, eosinophil, monocyte, and basophil counts of broilers exposed to varied forms of physiological stress.

Parameter	Response	Group 1 (control)	Group 2 (stocking density stress)	Group 3 (feed withdrawal stress)	Level of significance
Total white blood cell count (×103/μL)	Pre-stress	37.28±1.54	38.30±0.86	38.50±0.35	p=0.773
	Post-stress	36.20±1.48a	38.30±0.86ab	40.30±0.73b	p=0.040
Heterophils (×103/μL)	Pre-stress	11.35±1.23	7.30±1.75	9.61±2.34	p=0.329
	Post-stress	9.36±0.69a	5.90±0.97b	18.02±0.47c	p=0.000
Lymphocytes (×103/μL)	Pre-stress	22.32±1.35	26.33±1.38	23.94±1.58	p=0.166
	Post-stress	20.79±1.35a	27.74±0.51b	15.13±0.44c	p=0.000
Heterophil/lymphocyte ratio	Pre-stress	0.54±0.08	0.32±0.09	0.47±0.14	p=0.351
	Post-stress	0.47±0.04a	0.22±0.04b	1.20±0.04c	p=0.000
Eosinophils (×103/μL)	Pre-stress	1.90±0.32	2.36±0.39	2.75±0.50	p=0.380
	Post-stress	2.98±0.30a	1.38±0.20b	3.40±0.38a	p=0.000
Monocytes (×103/μL)	Pre-stress	1.71±0.46	2.22±0.53	2.17±0.63	p=0.776
	Post-stress	2.65±0.36	3.16±0.59	3.35±0.33	p=0.512
Basophils (×103/μL)	Pre-stress	0.00±0.00	0.00±0.00	0.04±0.04	p=0.401
	Post-stress	0.00±0.00	0.38±0.38	0.00±0.00	p=0.381

^a,b,cAlphabetical superscripts in a row indicate a significant difference between the means (p<0.05 or p<0.01).