Morphometric study of the testes of the Nigerian local breed of chicken

Data from 10 adult male Nigerian local breed of chicken were used to investigate the morphometry of the testis. The mean live weight of the birds as well as testes weights were obtained, and testes samples subjected to histological preparations for light microscopy. The mean live weight of the birds and testes weights were 977g and 6.3g respectively, with a gonadosomatic index of 1.1%. The dimensions of the testes were 5.30cm and 2.70cm for the length and width respectively. The volume densities were 96.6% and 3.4% for the seminiferous tubules and intertubular compartments respectively, out of which Leydig cells occupied 1.4%. The seminiferous tubular diameter was 158.40 µm while tubular lengths per testis and per gram of testis were 308 and 49 meters respectively. The number of Leydig cells per testis and per gram of testis were 2.1 billion and 340 million respectively while the number of sertoli cells per testis and per gram of testis were 2 billion and 300 million respectively. These data obtained, tend to suggest that the Nigerian local breed of chicken has high spermatogenic efficiency.