 additional -globin genes in sheep might produce extra -globin chains and , consequently , the subject carrying triplicated (  ) or quadruplicated (  ) haplotypes may exhibit different hematological phenotypes when compared to the normal duplicated (  ) homozygotes ( nn ) . both  and  heterozygous ( nd ) and  and  
 homozygous ( dd ) individuals were obtained by selection and inbreeding . 
 chromatographic rp - hplc analyses of the globin chains of 65 subjects ( 15 dd , 20 nd and 30 nn ) were performed 
 . a highly significant linear regression ( r2 = 0.967 ) of the / ratio on the number of -globin genes was found , and the / ratio ranged on average from 1.0 in nn individuals to 1.2 in the nd and 1.6 in the dd subjects . 
 values for blood fell within the range of normality but were rather peculiar as a whole . when the erythrocytes of individuals carrying normal arrangements were compared with those of subjects with extra -genes , the latter had fewer erythrocytes that were bigger in size and had a higher hb content and a greater osmotic fragility . 
 this hematological picture is consistent with the existence of an unbalanced / ratio . 