Abstract
Thiamine was determined in the blood of camel calves at days 1-5, weeks 1-6, months 3-4 and 7-9 and at one year, in the blood of breeding camels at late pregnancy, early, mid and late lactations and in the blood of racing camels at the ages of 2, 3, 4, 5, and >6 years. A total number of 1315 camels were used in this study. Thiamine was analyzed in the blood of these camels using HPLC with fluorescent detector. Normal camel calves were born with high levels of thiamine (97.8 mu g/l) in the blood. This level decreased by advancement of age to attain the lowest values by the time of weaning (Group A). Stress of pregnancy and lactation decreased the thiamine level in the blood of breeding camels (Group 13); however, polioencephalomalacia (PEM) was not reported in this group. Very low thiamine level was seen in some recently delivered camels and their youngs (Group E). This could be attributed to the high sulfate content of the feed offered to breeding camels, and the stress of pregnancy. Stress of racing and the high energy diets offered to racing camels affected blood thiamine especially in those with age range of 2 to 4 years (Group Q and PEM was seen among these young racing camels. PEM-affected camels responded very well to intravenous injections of thiamine given at the early course of disease at the rate of 8mg/kBW/day for three days.