Table 3. Comparison of the hematological profile of broiler reared in conventional and animal welfare-certified farms

Hematological profile	Conventional farm			Animal welfare-certified farm			Mean		SEM	p-value
Hematological profile	1 (n=22)	2 (n=22)	3 (n=20)	1 (n=25)	2 (n=25)	3 (n=30)	Conventional farm	Animal welfare-certified farm	SEM	p-value
WBC (K/μL)	18.54	19.85	17.42	12.66	18.40	12.81	18.60^a	14.62^b	0.404	<0.001
HE (K/μL)	4.77	5.11	4.72	2.77	4.59	2.95	4.87^a	3.44^b	0.145	<0.001
LY (K/μL)	11.18	11.92	10.12	8.31	11.28	8.22	11.07^a	9.27^b	0.195	<0.001
SI (HE/LY)	0.42	0.42	0.46	0.31	0.40	0.35	0.43^a	0.35^b	0.008	<0.001
EO (K/μL)	0.52	0.60	0.61	0.28	0.52	0.29	0.58^a	0.36^b	0.045	<0.001
MO (K/μL)	1.93	2.06	1.81	1.29	1.89	1.30	1.93^a	1.49^b	0.022	<0.001
BA (K/μL)	0.14	0.16	0.16	0.06	0.12	0.05	0.15^a	0.08^b	0.008	<0.001
RBC (M/μL)	2.30	2.30	2.20	2.20	2.40	2.10	2.34	2.31	0.018	0.274
Hb (g/dL)	8.60	8.10	7.30	8.10	11.40	7.50	8.09	9.03	0.497	0.249

Means with different superscripts between conventional and animal welfare-certified farms are significantly different at p<0.05.
WBC, white blood cells; HE, heterophils; LY, lymphocytes; SI, Stress Index; EO, eosinophils; MO, monocytes; BA, basophils; RBC, red blood cell; Hb, hemoglobin.