Ultrastructural characteristics of the blood cells of chickens commonly reared under backyard poultry farming in Mizoram, India.

The present study was undertaken to characterize the ultrastructural morphology of the blood cells of commonly reared chickens in the state of Mizoram, India under backyard poultry farming. For this study, 2 ml of whole blood was aseptically collected from the wings veins of 12 chickens of three different breeds namely the Zoar, Aseel and Rhode Island Red and processed for ultrastructural imaging under standard protocols. Under scanning electron microscopy (SEM) the matured erythrocytes of Zoar, Aseel and Rhode Island Red appeared elliptical in shape while the leukocytes and thrombocytes appeared round in shape with variable surface modifications. Under transmission electron microscopy (TEM) the granules of the heterophils of Zoar, Aseel and Rhode Island Red appeared predominantly fusiform in shape, the granules of the eosinophils appeared round in shape and that of the basophils appeared pleomorphic in shape. The cytoplasm of the monocytes, medium-to-large lymphocytes and thrombocytes of Zoar, Aseel and Rhode Island Red under TEM appeared to be vacuolated and granular while that of the small lymphocytes appeared to be granular but non-vacuolated. The study concluded that the ultrastructural characteristics of the blood cells of the three breeds of chicken studied were almost similar to the blood cells of other birds reported earlier.