No differences in total leukocyte count were observed between the
control and AM treated animals and of the different types of leukocytes,
only the monocytes were significantly different (P N 0.05; Table 1).
Nowaczewski et al. (2006) also observed no differences in leukocyte
counts in stressed pheasants treated with ascorbic acid compared to
birds without ascorbic acid supplementation. In contrast Adenkola and
Ayo (2009) found a significant decrease in the neutrophils, eosinophils
and lymphocytes of pigs that had been administered ascorbic acid just
prior to transportation than pigs in the control group. And Minka and
Ayo (2011) also reported that after administering ascorbic acid to
goats just prior to transportation, significantly lower leukocyte counts
were observed compared to the control animals, but noted that these
counts returned to their normal values 24 h after transportation. In contrast
to the current study where animals were transported only 30 min
at most prior to slaughter, the animals in these latter studies were
transported for much longer periods (8 and 12 h, respectively), but
were not slaughtered.