Acta Veterinaria et Zootechnica Sinica ›› 2023, Vol. 54 ›› Issue (7): 2872-2885.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2023.07.019

• ANIMAL BIOTECHNOLOGY AND REPRODUCTION • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effects of Different Dry Rearing Systems on Histomorphology of Goose Testis and External Genitalia

QING Enhua1,2, TANG Bincheng1,2, NIU Tian1, WANG Junqi1,2, CHEN Zhaoyan1, HU Jiwei1, HE Hua1, LI Liang1,2, WANG Jiwen1,2*, HU Shenqiang1,2*   

  1. 1. Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China;
    2. Key Laboratory of Livestock and Poultry Multi-omics of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Animal Genetics and Breeding, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China
  • Received:2022-09-15 Online:2023-07-23 Published:2023-07-21

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of different dry rearing systems on the reproductive system development of male geese. Taking 100 healthy male Sichuan White geese hatched from the same batch as the experimental subjects, at 120 days of age 60 male geese with similar body weights were selected and equally divided into two groups (30 individuals per group), which were reared under the cage-rearing system (CRS) and net-floor mixed rearing system (MRS), respectively, and were slaughtered at 270 days of age to collect the testes and external genitalia for subsequent histomorphological analysis. Morphological results showed that the weight and organ index of geese left-, right- and bilateral testes were extremely significantly higher in CRS than that in MRS (P<0.01), and the long diameter of geese right testis and short diameter of geese bilateral testis was significantly higher in CRS than that in MRS (P<0.05). The natural length and basal diameter of geese external genitalia were significantly higher in CRS than that in MRS (P<0.05), and the straightened length was extremely significantly higher in CRS than that in MRS (P<0.01). Histological results showed that the number of geese testicular spermatogonia was significantly higher in CRS than that in MRS (P<0.05), and the ratio of testicular parenchyma to interstitium, the thickness of seminiferous epithelium, the number of sertoli cells and the number of germ cells were extremely significantly higher in CRS than that in MRS (P<0.01). The thickness of keratinized epithelium of geese external genitalia was significantly lower in CRS than that in MRS (P<0.05). The results of correlation analysis showed that there were significant correlations between the morphological and histological parameters of either geese testes or external genitalia (P<0.05); moreover, there were significant correlations in the histomorphological indicators between geese testes and external genitalia under both rearing systems (P<0.05), but the correlations in the histomorphological indicators between geese testes and external genitalia in CRS were much stronger. Taken together, the developmental processes of geese testes and external genitalia are closely related under both dry rearing systems. Compared with MRS, the 150-day period of CRS starting from 120 days of age significantly promotes the reproductive system development of male geese and the testicular spermatogenic ability.

Key words: male goose, cage rearing system, net-floor mixed rearing system, testis, external genitalia, histomorphology

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