Studies on morphological features of foetal and adult ovaries in Kano brown goats

In this work we studied the structures of 51 foetal and 14 adult ovaries obtained from slaughtered Kano brown does in Nsukka abattoir. The ages of the adult does were determined by dentition and foetuses by crown rump length method. The foetal and adult ovaries were divided into five different groups using specific age intervals as Gestation day (GD) 50-65, 66-95, 96-125 and 126-145 and adults. For histological studies the ovaries were fixed, processed and routinely stained with H&E. The ovarian follicles were classified into 5 types according to granulosa cell layers surrounding the oocytes. The number of ovarian follicles per microscopic field, number of granulosa cells surrounding type 1 and 1A follicles and diameter of the ovarian follicles were determined for each group at 400x magnification. Grossly the foetal ovaries were like pin head, oval in shape, uniformly smooth and creamy in colour. The adult ovaries had follicles with different sizes. The adult mean ovarian weights were significantly higher (P