Detection of serum protein fractions and their concentrations in laying and non-laying ostriches (Struthio camelus) fed with different dietary protein levels

Blood plasma contains a complex mixture of proteins with widely different structures and properties. Relative and total amounts of serum protein fractions are affected by nutritional, physiological status, infections and inflammation, and are therefore important health indicators. The occurrence of considerable species differences to the overall interpretation of avian electrophoretic data is well established and constitutes a continued challenge to the avian specialist and to the providing laboratories to obtain species-specific, even ageand gender-specific, reference ranges. The albumin and globulin components of avian serum protein are composed of separate albumin, alpha 1-2, beta, and gamma fractions. Usually, decreased albumin precedes the development of generalized hypoproteinemia in dietary protein deficiencies [4, 16, 26, 27].