This study examined the histomorphology of sweat glands across various dog breeds, focusing on their structural characteristics and adaptations to environmental needs. Skin samples from 48 dogs representing indigenous and seven breeds (German Shepherd, Labrador Retriever, Dachshund, Beagle, Doberman Pinscher, German Spitz and Pug) were collected from the ventral abdominal region. Using standard histological techniques, histology and the size and distribution of sweat glands were analysed. The results revealed significant variations in gland size and number among different breeds. Breeds like the German Spitz, German Shepherd and Dachshund had the largest sweat gland diameters, suggesting a better capacity for thermoregulation. In contrast, the Pug, Doberman Pinscher and Labrador Retriever had fewer and smaller glands. Dachshund stood out for possessing both the highest number and large-sized glands, while German Spitz had fewer but larger glands, compensating for the lesser number. The types of sweat glands predominating in ventral abdominal regions in dogs were apocrine glands. It was concluded that significant differences existed in the number and size of the sweat glands among different breeds which play a key role in thermoregulation. Keywords: Sweat glands, dogs, breed comparison

Gross morphology and properties of duck wing feathers were studied in order to investigate the possibilities for the valorisation of waste duck feathers. Feather samples were collected from a total of 24 birds comprising of six males and females each of broiler Vigova Super-M ducks of six to eight weeks of age and spent Kuttanad (layer) ducks above 40 weeks of age from the Meat Technology Unit, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, Kerala. The length and diameter of the feather barbs of these birds were recorded. Properties of barbs such as aspect ratio and fineness of barbs and density of whole feather fraction were also estimated and compared. The results pointed towards the sole features of the duck feather that are comparable with other natural or synthetic fibres for their substitution in various industries. Average length of barbs in broiler and Kuttanad ducks in the right side of right-wing feather was 2.32±0.10 cm and 1.83±0.07 cm, respectively. The diameter of the barbs was similar in both groups and the average diameter of barb was 0.06±0.004 mm which falls under spinnable diameter range which is suitable for textile application. Aspect ratio of barbs of duck feathers was in the desired range to be used in textile manufacturing. The fineness and relative density

In the present study, the morphometric aspects of the hoof of Indian hog deer (Hyelaphus porcinus), a small sized ungulate was investigated.Toe length, toe height, toe angle, sole length, sole width, heelbulb height and heel bulb width were the morphometric parameters observed in the study.Above parameters of lateral and medial claws of both forelimbs and hindlimbs were recorded separately.There is a statistically significant correlation between the body weight of hog deer and the different morphometric measurements of hooves.The average toe length of forelimb was 3.09±0.23cm and hindlimb was 2.815±0.127cm.The average toe height of forelimbs and hind limbs were 1.84±0.14cm and 1.747±0.15cm respectively.Toe angle was maximum in right lateral claw of hindlimb (40.8±2.48°) and minimum in right medial claw of forelimb (37.5±1.76°).Maximum sole length was recorded in the left lateral claw of forelimb (3.48±0.09cm) and minimum in the right medial claw of hindlimb (3.18±0.17cm).Maximum sole width was recorded in left lateral claw of forelimb (1.53±0.16cm) and minimum in the left medial claw of hindlimb (1.4±0.20 cm).Toe length, toe height, heelbulb length, sole length, sole width of forelimb measured higher values than that of hind limb.Toe angle, heel bulb height and heel bulb width of hind limb exhibited higher values than forelimb.

Kidneys of six each of adult broiler chicken and broiler ducks were used in the present study. In the histological studies, the kidneys of all studied birds showed two zones, the cortex and medulla. The medulla occupied only a small portion of the kidney. In chicken a greater number of distinct cone-shaped medullary lobules were seen among cortical lobules while in duck they were lesser in number, more rounded in outline and were not cone shaped as in chicken. In the case of chicken more than one cortical lobule drained into a medullary lobule. Mammalian type of nephrons that occupied the juxta medullary region presented loop of Henle that was located within the medullary cone. Collecting ducts from different medullary lobules united together to form several large collecting ducts within the medulla which in turn united to form ureteral branches.

DNA barcoding is a technique for characterizing species of organisms using a short DNA sequence from a standard and agreed-upon position in the genome.In the present study, DNA barcoding was used as a technology to differentiate deer and goat species from the skin samples.The samples were collected from different regions of the skin, viz.ear pinna, dorsal abdomen, muzzle and interdigital space of foerelimb of deer brought for post mortem at College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, from Thrissur zoo and forest department and of goat freshly slaughtered in Meat Technology Unit, Mannuthy.Samples were chopped and preserved in ethanol and processed.The mitochondrial sequence of Cytochrome C Oxidase subunit (COI) was deliberated as a barcode marker suited best for species identification of the animals and based on this the samples were identified as Cervus unicolor, Rusa timorensis and Capra hircus.The results recommended that unidentified specimens from wild animals can be recognized competently using DNA sequencebased analysis.

Six brachycephalic breeds of dogs irrespective of age and sex presented to the Teaching Veterinary Clinical Complex, Mannuthy, and University Veterinary Hospital, Kokkalai, were selected for treatment of dry eye condition. All the selected dogs were Chinese Pugs (100%) and they were in good general condition. Clinical, physiological and biochemical parameters were in normal physiological range pre-operatively. On ophthalmologic examination, mean Schirmer Tear Test (STT) value was recorded as 10.00±0.93 mm/min and Tear Film Breakup Time (TBUT) was 4.66±0.33 sec and the other parameters like intra ocular pressure and results of visual function tests were normal. The dogs were thoroughly investigated by detailed clinical, haematological, biochemical and wet film examination prior to surgical procedure and underwent minor labial salivary gland auto-transplantation and evaluated at biweekly interval up to 60th post-operative day. The tear production and tear film breakup time had shown significant increase compared to pre-operative values. All the animals had recovered without any complications and the grafting procedure did not alter the vision and normal habits.

Estimation of hydroxyproline and collagen in skin of turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) was done using skin samples procured from 12 birds each of either sex of four to six months of age. The samples were stored at -200 C and the hydroxyproline content of moisture-free and fat-free samples of the skin was estimated. From the values arrived at, the collagen content was calculated on fresh matter basis. Average content of hydroxyproline was 5.20 and 5.30 per cent in male and female turkeys respectively. Collagen content was found to be as 8.16 per cent in male and 8.14 per cent in female turkeys. On statistical analysis, significant difference was not detected in the mean percentage of hydroxyproline and collagen content between sexes. Hence, the skin of turkey with its high content of collagen can be recommended as a source for collagen production in the avian industry. Moreover, with a contribution of 8.43 to 9.65 per cent to the total carcass weight, the potentials of skin of turkey could be effectively harnessed for further processed products.

The present study was conducted on the pelvic limb bones of a five year old male umbrella cockatoo. The femur was light in weight and presented a straight shaft, two extremities and four surfaces. The proximal extremity had a head with distinct fovea capitis, neck and indistinct trochanter major, while the distal extremity had a trochlea, two condyles and a wide intercondyloid groove. Patella was a small pea-sized sesamoid bone. The tibiotarsus was the largest of the leg bones and was one third longer than femur. It presented a long shaft with distinct fibular crest and two extremities. Both extremities showed medial and lateral condyles. From proximal extremity, the straight cnemial crest extended ventrally. The condyles of distal extremity were separated by intercondyloid fossa and continued caudally to wide grooved trochlea. Instead of extensor canal in other birds, a deep groove was observed. The fibula was with small head and rudimentary shaft and terminated near the middle of the shaft of tibiotarsus. The tarsometatarsus was extremely short. Its shaft presented convex dorsal surface whereas the plantar surface was concave without ridges. The distal extremity presented three articular trochleae. Between the trochlea for third and fourth digits, a bony canal was noticed. The spur core seen in cockerel was not observed in the present study. Four digits from one to four showed zygodactyl type of arrangement and contained two, three, four and five phalanges, respectively. Distal phalanx in each digit was a claw. The light femur and highly reduced fibula in umbrella cockatoo showed adaptations for flight whereas the positioning of the digits showed adaptation for climbing and grasping

Abstract: Histology, lectin histochemistry and ultrastructure of interdigital gland in sheep was studied using six adult cross bred sheep of either sex collected from the Meat Technology Unit, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy. The manus and pes were detached from the rest of limbs and after recording the gross observations, the interdigital glands were fixed in 10 per cent neutral buffered formalin and processed for histological examinations. Stratified squamous epithelium with a prominent keratin layer lined the lumen, similar to the skin over the dorsal surface of manus and pes. The epidermis presented mucosal folds, which projected into the lumen. The dermis contained small sebaceous glands, hair follicles of different sizes, arrector pili muscles and apocrine sweat glands. The secretory epithelium of sweat glands was lined with a simple layer of cuboidal and relatively flattened cells. The excretory ducts of these glands were lined by cuboidal cells, with darker appearance than its secretory portion. The fibrous capsule was composed of dense connective tissue with collagen, adipose cells, blood vessels and nerve fibers. Glandular secretion and the granules in the stratum granolosum of the surface squamous epithelium showed positive reaction for lectin Ulex europaeus (UEA-I). The apocrine nature of sweat glands was revealed in the ultrastructural studies by scanning electron microscope. Keywords: Interdigital gland, sheep, histology, lectin histochemistry and ultrastructure

Histology, histochemistry and ultrastructure of epidermis was studied in deer, goat and sheep. The skin consisted of two layers, viz. a superficial epidermis and the deeper dermis. Sweat and sebaceous glands, as well as hair follicles, were epidermal structures located in the dermis and subcutis. Epidermis was composed of stratified squamous keratinized epithelium. Among all the 27 regions studied in the three species, muzzle region had the thickest epidermis. Among the five layers of the epidermis, stratum basalis, stratum spinosum and stratum corneum were always present and formed continuous layers throughout the body surface. Stratum granulosum consisting of one to three layers of cells was a continuous layer in most of the regions. A definite stratum lucidum was seen only in the muzzle, dorsal nasal and ventral abdominal areas. PAS and Alcian blue positive areas were detected in stratum spinosum and stratum granulosum. The latter exhibited positive reaction as green fluorescence to fluorescein iso-thiocyanate conjugated lectin from Ulex europaeus . Intensity of reaction was more in sheep among the three species studied. Epidermis exhibited diffused positive reaction for oil red o. The epidermis showed a positive alkaline phosphatase reaction exept stratum corneum. A diffused positive reaction to acid phosphatase was noticed in epidermis. Melanocytes and keratin pigments in the different layers of skin exhibited a positive reaction in immunohistochemistry due to antigen-presenting immune cells i e. Langerhans cells. Transmission electron microscopy revealed cells in epidermis with keratohyaline granules.

Hair distribution patterns in the deer, goat and sheep were studied using skin samples collected from spotted deer brought for post mortem at College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, from the Thrissur zoo and forest department and from goats and sheep freshly slaughtered at the Meat Technology Unit, Mannuthy. Samples of 1cm3 were collected from 27 regions of skin, viz. muzzle, infraorbital, horn glands, dorsal face, lateral face, ventral face, ear pinna, dorsal neck, lateral neck, ventral neck, dorsal abdomen, lateral abdomen, ventral abdomen, dorsal forelimb, palmar, dorsal hindlimb, plantar, interdigital part of fore limb, interdigital part of hind limb, forelimb foot pad, hindlimb foot pad, inguinal, preputial scrotal regions of male dorsal thorax, perineum and dorsal nasal regions. The hair arrangement in the three species was simple, but arranged in groups. Mostly two to three hairs formed a group and they emerged out very closely but not from a single orifice unlike in the case of compound hairs. The muzzle region lacked hair on the rostral aspect and sparse wool hairs were found on the dorsal surface. Dorsal nasal and carpal regions consisted of dense population of short, stout hairs. Maximum hair density per microscope field under low power was noticed in the lateral aspect of neck, dorsal abdomen, palmar, interdigital aspect of hind limb, lateral abdomen and dorsal aspect of hind limb in deer. Hair was absent in the muzzle followed by dorsal face region in all three species in the present study. Maximum hair density per microscope field under low power was noticed on the dorsal aspect of fore limb, palmar aspect, pinna of ear, dorsal abdomen and interdigital space of hind limb in goat with minimum hair distribution on the ventral abdomen followed by lateral face region. Maximum hair density per microscope field under low power was noticed on the dorsal aspect of neck, interdigital space of fore limb, lateral aspect of neck and infraorbital in sheep with minimum hair distribution on the ventral abdomen, dorsal face and lateral face. In general, density of hair distribution was more in the deer than the goat and sheep

Studies were conducted on 2972 failed to hatch chicken eggs with embryonic deaths to detect the various abnormalities occurring during their development. The study included descriptive examination and comparison of unhatched eggs of chicken. Objective of the experiment was to study the occurrence of abnormalities of embryos at various stages of incubation in chicks by gross examination. Of the total eggs collected, a major contribution towards lesser hatchability was accounted by infertile eggs, followed by mortality during early period, late stage and then mid-stage mortality. A significant positive correlation existed between weight, length and width of eggs. Anomalies encountered in the present study were categorized as developmental failure, developmental arrest, developmental excess including twinning and atypical differentiation with skeletal abnormalities.

The present study was conducted to evaluate the chemical properties of keratin obtained from duck feather barbs. Feather barbs were collected from a total of 24 birds comprising of broiler Vigova Super-M ducks of six to eight weeks of age and spent Kuttanad ducks above 40 weeks of age. Different properties of feather barbs like protein content and amino acid content were studied according to the standard analytical methods. The percentage contribution of total feathers to the body weight was more in the broiler duck (5.03±0.24 %). Broiler duck feather contained 77.59 per cent and feather of Kuttanad duck contained 73.50 per cent protein. The relative high value of protein content in duck feather can be utilized as a good source of protein in the feed. Feather barbs of broiler and Kuttanad ducks showed similar proportion of amino acids. Serine was found to be the most abundant amino acid followed by glycine and proline. Percentage of hydrophobic amino acids was higher (56%) when compared to the hydrophilic amino acids (42%) in both the groups under study. Presence of amino acid cysteine, which has the ability to form disulfide bonds indicated the stable structure of keratin. The results indicated the importance of focusing on advanced technology to uplift the use of duck feather fibre as a natural protein source which is at present considered as a poultry industry waste and will help to build a ecofriendly environment.

Gross anatomical features of the sternum in crow (Corvus splendens) was studied using specimens collected from birds brought for post-mortem at the Department of Pathology in the College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy. The sternum was extensive and extremely thin with a total length of 4.63 ± 0.11 cm and width 2.65 ± 0.11 cm. The large ventrally directed keel or carina was triangular in shape, wide cranially (1.29 ± 0.08 cm) and narrow and tapering caudally for attachment of flight muscles. The manubrial spine was of moderate size, projecting from the rostral most border of sternum and bifid cranially. The cranial border of the body of the sternum showed well developed, elongated transversely directed facets for articulation with the distal extremity of coracoid bones. Lateral borders of the body presented five costal facets on either side for articulation with the sternal ribs. The body of sternum was roughly rectangular in shape and showed a pair of short craniolateral and long caudolateral processes. The caudal border was straight and presented on either side a 'U' shaped notch between the caudolateral process and lateral border of body. The dorsal surface was concave from sides to midline and there were several pneumatic foramina arranged linearly on the midline for communication with airsacs. The anatomical peculiarities of sternum in the crow may be correlated with its flight adaptations and scavenging behaviour of the species.

The study was conducted on three femurs of Asian elephant (Elephas maximus). The femur was comprised of cylindrical shaft with proximal and distal extremities. The shaft presented cranial and caudal surfaces and medial and lateral borders. The proximal extremity comprised head and greater trochanter. The fovea capitis seen in African elephants and domestic animals was absent in the head. The greater trochanter was placed laterally below the level of head similar to African elephants, cats and man. The greater trochanter continued on the craniolateral aspect of shaft as ridge like trochanter tertius as in African elephants. The distal extremity comprised a trochlea cranially and two condyles caudally. Unlike in ruminants the medial supracondyloid tuberosity, supracondyloid fossa and extensor groove were indistinct. The present study indicated that most of the gross anatomical features of the femur of Asian elephants were similar to that of African elephants but differed in several aspects from that of domestic animals.

Present study was conducted with the aim to understand the morphological features of skull of barred jungle owlet.The head of the owletwascollected from the specimen brought for post-mortem, processed and morphological studies were conducted . Frontal bones were the largest and were convex and smooth.Temporal fossae were deep. Characteristic feature of the skull was that the bony orbits were located anteriorly, relatively large and were incomplete anteriorly. The supraorbital process was narrow, triangular and pointed.Thisprocess may prevent the rotation of sclerotic tube and fix its position which might be the reason why owlets cannot move their eye ball freely. The frontonasal hinge joint helped in the mobility of upper beak and anterior to this joint, the nasal bones presented adeep depression in the midline. Occipital bone showed well-developedexternal occipital protuberance and a vertically grooved occipital condylewhich helped the birds to swivel its head and neck. The ex-occipital and basi-occipital bones were broad. The foramen magnum was situated basally and ventrally. This assistedthe upright posture of the head in this species

The present study was undertaken to compare the morphology of the skin of broiler and Kuttanad ducks. Skin samples were collected from a total of 24 birds comprising six males and females, respectively in each group. All the birds under study showed quite similar structural characteristics of thin skin. Among broiler and Kuttanad ducks, mean body weight and gross mean weight of the skin showed no significant difference. The thickness varied considerably in different regions of the body. Maximum thickness was noticed in ventral abdominal region and minimum at the ventral wing region in both groups. Number of feather follicles per square centimetre area was less in regions with large feathers and more in regions with small feathers. Since ducks are semi-aquatic birds, a greater thickness of the skin in the ventral regions of the body is considered as an adaptation to resist heat dissipation.