author(s)
Rabab Saleem, Balwinder Singh and Khan Idrees Mohd

abstract
The scanning electron microscopic study was conducted on testes, epididymis and ductus deferens of male local Hill fowl of Uttarakhand. The samples were collected from freshly slaughtered birds and fixed using Karnovasky’s fluid. The samples were further processed and dried using Critical Point Drier and coated with Gold-Palladium for SEM viewing. The semeniferous tubules were lined by the germinal epithelium and were separated from each other by interstitial connective tissue. Spermatocytes were located in the middle zone of the tubule. In the apical zone, many spermatids often attached to the Sertoli cells. The diameter of spermatogonia was recorded as 8.25x8.65 µm. The efferent ducts consisted of folds which projected prominently into the lumen. They were lined by ciliated and non- ciliated types of cells. The ciliated cells showed tufts of cilia where as the non- ciliated cells free surface was were lined by microvilli. The luminal surface epithelium of both connecting and epididymal duct showed cobbled appearance. The luminal surface of vas deferens was raised at regular intervals giving wavy appearance with ridges and grooves. The cells were non-ciliated in appearance. However, two types of surface cells were identified wherein most of the cells had microvilli on their free surface and the other type of remaining cells were devoid of microvilli.