author(s)
Henna Wani, Mohammad Maqbool Darzi, Shayaib Ahmad Kamil, Shakil Ahmad Wani, Ziaul Hassan Munshi, Abdul Shakoor, Tariq Ahmad Raja, Shabu Shoukat, Bisma Kashani and Aazima Shah

abstract
Kashmir Faverolla being one of the famous native chicken breed of Kashmir valley is reared primarily for meat and egg production and constitutes one of the major sources of animal protein. With such an importance of this breed the present study was undertaken to demonstrate the histological and histochemical nature of its ovary and oviduct involving ten adult mature female hens. The intact reproductive tracts were procured from local vendors selling slaughtered birds. After dissection, it was observed that the left functional oviduct was a long convoluted tube that occupied a large part of abdominal cavity and comprising of five parts viz; infundibulum, magnum, isthmus, uterus and vagina. The wall of the oviduct consisted of mucosa, derived from pseudostratified epithelium and a glandular lamina propria. The tunica serosa was observed to consist of a thin layer of loose connective tissue with good numbers of lymphocytes. Longitudinal folds in mucosa extended spirally down the length of the oviduct varying in height and thickness. Muscularis mucosa was found to be thickest in the uterus, where it formed a sphincter at the uterovaginal junction as well as in vagina. Acid mucopolysaccharide and metachromsia dominated the magnum whereas neutral mucopolysaccharide dominated the infundibulum followed by the uterus.