Volume: 50 Issue: 2
Year: 2019, Page: 117-121,
Received: Sept. 3, 2018 Accepted: Oct. 17, 2018 Published: July 1, 2019
Histological studies were undertaken on the skin of six male commercial broiler chicken of six to eight weeks of age, slaughtered at Meat Technology Unit, Mannuthy. The skin consisted of an outer thin epidermis and inner thick dermis. The per cent contribution of epidermis and dermis to total width of skin was 2.01±0.01 and 97.99±0.01 respectively. The epidermis presented two major layers viz., stratum germinativum and stratum corneum. The dermis consisted of three distinct layers from superficial to deep viz., stratum superficiale, stratum profundum and lamia elastica. The stratum profundum consisted of a superficial stratum compactum and a deep stratum laxum which was the thickest among all the layers of skin. The lamina elastica separated the subcutaneous tissue from the dermis and was the thinnest layer.
Keywords: Broiler chicken, skin, histology
Ahmed, S.S., Das, L.N. and Biswal, G. 1968. Comparative histological study of the skin of fowl and duck. Indian Vet. J. 45: 725.
Bacha Jr, W.J. and Bacha, L.M. 2012. Color atlas of veterinary histology. (3rd Ed.). John Wiley and Sons, New Jersey, 356p.
Engelbrecht, A., Hoffman, L.C., Cloete, S.W.P. and Van Schalkwyk, S.J. 2009. Ostrich leather quality: a review. Anim. Prod. Sci. 49: 549-557.
Homberger, D.G. and de Silva, K.N. 2000. Functional microanatomy of the feather-bearing integument: implications for the evolution of birds and avian flight. Am. Zoologist. 40: 553-574.
Kardong, K.V. and Bels, V.L. 1998. Rattlesnake strike behavior: kinematics. J. Exp. Biol. 201: 837-850.
Lucas, A. S. and Stettenheim, P. R. 1972. Avian anatomy: Integument. (1st Ed.). Agriculture Handbook 362, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, USA, 750p.
Luna, L.G. 1968. Manual of Histologic Staining Methods of Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. (3rd Ed.). Mc Graw Hill Company, New York, 258p.
Menon, G. K. and Menon, J. 2000. Avian epidermal lipids: functional considerations and relationship to feathering. Am. Zool. 40: 540–552.
Nett, C. and Tully Jr, T.N. 2003. Anatomy, clinical presentation and diagnostic approach to feather-picking pet birds. Vet Folio. 25: 14-18
Nickel, R., Schummer, A. and Seiferle, E. 1977. Anatomy of Domestic Birds. Verlag Paul Parey, Berlin, Hamburg, 190p.
Picasso, M.B.J., Mosto, M.C., Tozzi, R., Degrange, F.J. and Barbeito, C.G. 2014. A peculiar association: the skin and the subcutaneus diverticula of the Southern Screamer (Chauna torquata, Anseriformes). Vertebrate Zool. 64: 245-249.
Picasso, M.B., Mario, R. and Barbeito, C.G. 2016. The skin structure of greater rhea (Rheidae, Palaeognathae). Acta. Zool. 97: 302-309.
Samuelson, D.A. 2007. Textbook of Veterinary Histology. (1st Ed.). Saunders Elsevier, Gainesville, Florida, United States, 560p.
Singh, U.B. and Sulochana, S. 1996. Handbook of Histological and Histochemical Techniques. Premier Publishing House, Hyderabad, 111p.
Snedecor, G.W. and Cochran, W.G. 1994. Statistical Methods. (7th Ed.). The Iowa State University Press, USA, 313p.
Stettenheim, P.R. 2000. The integumentary morphology of modern birds—an overview. Am. Zool. 40: 461-477.
Weir, K. A., and Lunam, C. A. 2004. A histological study of emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae) skin. J. Zool. 264: 259-266.
© 2019 Bharathi et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.