histomorphological study on small intestine in guinea fowl

background: the loop pattern of the small intestine is of considerable importance in categorizing them and the intestine length of the two sex is different. in this respect there is no research performed on pheasant family as guinea fowl. objectives: in this research histomorphology of guinea fowl's small intestine was studied. methods: for this study 20 adult male and female guinea fowls were selected and their small intestines were studied morphologically. for each guinea fowl, a tissue sample was obtained and prepared using haematoxylin and eosin stain kit. results: macroscopic results suggest that they are basically much akin to other poultry with this difference that in guinea fowl there are less loop patterns in jejunum. from the microscopic point of view, guinea fowl's small intestine mucosa membrane does not include internal plicae circulars, but there are villi (made of mucus) instead. the outer edge of the villus is formed of simple columnar epithelium with a few goblet cells. in the ileum goblet cells are reduced as we reach the end of it. conclutions: intestines in both sex have the same length and structure and loop patterns are straight and few in numbers.