Transhumance pastoralism is a traditional sheep management strategy adopted by the herders in the Himalayas to address environmental stress. The changes in haematological parameters in the transhumant sheep may well give insights of changes in physiological changes at pasture sites of various elevations in the transhumance cycle. For that purpose, 32 healthy Baruwal sheep were selected and divided into four groups: male (8) below 1 year, male (8) greater than 1 year, female (8) below 1 year, and female (8) greater than 1 year; the animals were selected based on similarity on body weight within the groups. The herd was clinically inspected for the presence of any infection. Adaptation period was set for 3 weeks at each pasture site. The blood samples were taken from designated groups at both grazing sites, i.e. from low (2431 m.a.s.l) to high stopover (3885 m.a.s.l) at the seventh day of the experimental period. Climatic data were recorded at both altitudes over the period of measurements from manually installed weather stations. Later, the herbage species were collected based on the visual sign of grazing at both sites and subjected to chemical composition analysis. The research results revealed that RBC (red blood cell), Hb (Haemoglobin), and PCV (packed cell volume) were significantly increased (p < 0.05) at high altitude, while MCH (mean corpuscular haemoglobin) and MCHC (Mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration) were higher at low altitude. Sex and age had a similar effect (p > 0.05) on haematologic parameters, except for PCV and MCH. The altitude had a big impact on leucocyte (p < 0.05), being greater at low altitude than high, which could be an indicator of the increased immunologic response at low altitude irrespective of age and sex. The research result revealed the changing haematological responses of Baruwal sheep to changing pasture sites at different altitudes in the transhumance movement. The results further gave a hint of the nutritional stress at low altitude when the herd arrives in the winter season. It is rather difficult to draw an immediate conclusion that pasture quality might be the contributory issue for a decline in the nutritional status of grazing sheep when the herbage species vary by altitude. The measurement of blood metabolic stressors could further facilitate description of the nutritional stress alongside the transhumance when the grazing species and quality are different. Strategic feed supplementation for a much better performance of Baruwal sheep is needed at low altitude to deal with the declined herbaceous quality during winter.

中文翻译：

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尼泊尔喜马拉雅山脉西部放牧的超人类巴鲁瓦尔羊（Ovis aries）的血液学变化

跨牧民放牧是喜马拉雅山脉牧民为应对环境压力而采用的传统绵羊管理策略。在超人类的绵羊中，血液学参数的变化可能很好地揭示了超人类循环中各个海拔高度的牧场点的生理变化的见解。为此，选择了32头健康的Baruwal绵羊，将其分为四组：雄性（1岁以下）（8只），雄性（1岁以上）8只，雌性（1岁以下）8只和雌性（8岁以上）8只。 ; 根据各组中体重的相似性选择动物。临床检查了牛群是否存在任何感染。每个牧场的适应期定为3周。血样是从两个放牧地点的指定人群中采集的，即从低（2431 mas l）在实验期间的第七天到高停留（3885马尔）。在手动安装的气象站进行的测量期间，在两个海拔高度都记录了气候数据。之后，根据两个站点上的放牧视觉迹象收集牧草物种，并进行化学成分分析。研究结果表明，在高海拔地区，RBC（红细胞），Hb（血红蛋白）和PCV（堆积细胞体积）显着增加（p <0.05），而MCH（平均红细胞血红蛋白）和MCHC（平均红细胞血红蛋白浓度） ）在低海拔时较高。性别和年龄对血液学参数的影响相似（p> 0.05），但PCV和MCH除外。海拔高度对白细胞有很大影响（p <0.05），低海拔高度比高海拔高度大，不论年龄和性别，这可能是低海拔地区免疫反应增强的指示。研究结果表明，在超人类运动中，巴鲁瓦尔羊对不同高度的牧场发生变化的血液学反应正在发生变化。结果进一步表明，当羊群进入冬季时，低海拔地区的营养压力很大。很难立即得出结论，即当牧草种类随海拔高度变化时，牧场质量可能是导致放牧绵羊营养状况下降的重要原因。当放牧种类和质量不同时，血液代谢应激源的测量可以进一步促进对营养压力以及超人类的描述。