Year: 2004
Type: dissertation
Abstract: __Abstract__ \n \nThe gastro-intestinal (GI) tract of a chicken starts with the beak, followed by the \nesophagus and crop, proventriculus (glandular stomach), gizzard (muscular \nstomach), duodenum, ileum, a pair of blind elongated caeca, colon and ending in \nthe cloaca. The GI-tract consists of a large, single cell layer of epithelial cells \nsurface and a complex microflora that symbiotically interacts with the host. The \nsurface is enlarged by the folds in the mucosal surface which are covered with villi, \nwhich in turn are covered by microvilli. For humans the surface of the skin is about 2 \nm2, while the gut surface is 150-200m2 (about the size of a tennis court). For \nchickens, these numbers are not available, but the ratio probably is also 100 times \nthe skin surface. Villi are present throughout the small and large intestine. They are \nlongest in the duodenum, but gradually shorten and thicken towards the colon. In \nthe first part of the cloaca they are stumpy and rounded. Villi are present in the \ncaeca also, becoming flattened toward the blind end.
Author: M. Koenen
Language: English
Subfield: Animal Science and Zoology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2291585091