Some comparative gross and morphometrical studies on the gastrointestinal tract in pigeon (columbia livia) and Japanese quail (coturnix japonica)

Abstract

To study the comparative morphology and morphometry of the gastrointestinal tract of the Japanese quail and pigeon, a total number of twenty birds twenty birds (comprising of ten pigeons and ten Japanese quails) of both sexes were used obtained and used by the researhers. The birds were weighed, dissected and the different parts of the gastrointestinal tract located and eviscerated from which the comparative morphologic and morphometric studies were carried out. The numerical data generated were subjected to statistical analyses using the Microsoft Office Excel 2007 and GraphPad Instat statistical package, with values of P<0.05 considered significant. The weights of esophagus in quail and pigeon were 1.66±0.15g and 1.62±0.2g respectively (P>0.05), their corresponding lengths were 9.77±0.35cm and 12.46±0.99cm respectively, while the mean body weights of the quail and pigeon used in the study were 159.5±8.18g and 265±4.86g for the quail and pigeon, respectively (P>0.05). The mean weights of the proventriculus in the quail and pigeon were 0.69±0.07g and 0.54±0.09g respectively (P>0.05) and their mean lengths were 1.75±0.13cm and 1.44±0.28cm respectively; this was not considered significant relative terms. The weights and lengths of gizzard in the quail and pigeon showed different values with the ultimate conclusion that the gizzard’s weight and length were higher in the pigeon than in the quail (P<0.05). It was also seen in both absolute and relative terms that the lengths and weights of the small intestines in the pigeon were higher than that of the quail though with no considerable significant differences (P>0.05). The ceca in the pigeon was rudimentary in contrast to the robust type found in the quail, the weights of both the right and left ceca in the quail and pigeon were considered very significant (P<0.05) and their corresponding lengths considered extremely ssignificant (P<0.05). The colon, being the terminal part of the large intestine is located caudal to the ceca, had their weights in both quail and pigeon not significantly different statistically, but in absolute and relative terms they differed from each other similarly the lengths of the colon in both bird types were considered significant (P<0.05). The vertebrate gastrointestinal tract is a dynamic and energetically expensive organ system whose various anatomical and physiological parameters were regularly being used in clinical evaluations and for assessing dynamics of growth and associated physiological functions for normal and anomalous developments in birds, the knowledge of which will not only add to literatures in these bird types but which will also aid in understanding their biology and mode of domestication as well as being useful for poultry pathologists and clinician, more especially when carrying out postmortem examination.