author(s)
Eyhab RM Al-Shamary, Ahmed Sami Jarad, Ihab Abbas Taher, FJ Al-Saffar and Wafa Abdulmutalib Naji

abstract
The present investigation was aimed to study the histomorphological and histochemical finding of the structures wall of the duodenum of Collard, Owl and Ruddyin south Iraq. Fifteen healthy birds were collected from local suppliers from Al-Samawah city during January to May 2016. Birds were euthanized, dissected and then specimens were processed for histological and histochemical staining techniques. Histologically, the duodenum was lined by simple columnar with goblet cells the villi get long leaf-shaped villi that were arranged in a zig-zag pattern in collard. But in the owl, the villi showed blunt apical part and wide basal part, while in the ruddy it had a finger like projections. Tunica serosa was thin layer of areolar loose connective tissue. Histochemical findings showed that the columnar cells were positive reacted with the PAS stain, whereas the goblet cells were strongly reacted with this stain. On applying the combined PAS-AB (pH 0.4), the wall showed epithelial cells stained negatively with this stained while the goblet cells gave strong positive reaction (dark blue). The mucosal lining revealed no response toward the mercuric bromophenol blue staining in collard, owl and ruddy, while, the tunica muscularis was constituted by layers of were positively reacted with this stain in collard, owl and ruddy. All birds the columnar cells of small intestine gave the positive reaction with PAS, PAS-AB. In fact, the stain is an indicator for sulfated acidic mucin which are very important in digestion and absorption and subsequent body growth of the bird.