Bìol. Tvarin, 2018, volume 20, issue 1, pp. 103–109

COMPARATIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF HAIR CUTICLE MICROSCOPIC STRUCTURE OF SOME SPECIES OF AGRICULTURAL ANIMALS

А. V. Pikhtirova, V. D. Ivchenco
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Sumy National Agrarian University,
160 G. Kondratieva str., Sumy 40021, Ukraine, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

In modern conditions of society development, great attention is paid to the quality of the training future specialists in veterinary medicine as experts who are able to provide qualified assistance in resolving disputed issues that arise at different stages of legal proceedings. Not infrequently there are criminal cases in which animals or their fragments appear, resulting in the need for an expert biologist.
The article presents the results of study of the hair of some farm animal species by scanning electron microscopy. Significant differences in the surface pattern of the hair cuticle of pig, horse, cow, goat and sheep have been revealed. Morphometric investigations of the cuticle scales were carried out using Digimizer digital image analysis software. The thickness of the hair, the frequency of scales arrangement, the average size of scales and their angular characteristics were established.
The largest thickness of the studied samples was in the bristle of pig (188.1 μm), and the smallest in wool of the Precos breed sheep (15.2 μm). The number of scales per 100 μm of the cuticle surface was as follows: the pig’s bristle 9 pc., the goat’s hair 12 pc., the cow’s hair 13 pc., the horse’s hair 11/12 pc., the wool of the Hissar breed sheep 7 pc., the wool of the Precos breed sheep 9 pc. The average scale size on the surface was 17.5 μm on the pig bristle, 10.6 μm on the goat’s hair, 8.7 μm on the cow’s hair, 10.112.1 μm on the horse’s hair, 14.114.7 μm on the wool of the Hissar breed sheep, 14.1 μm on the wool of the Precos breed sheep.
The obtained results can be used in the veterinary and sanitary examination to resolve controversial questions on the identification of hair and the attribution of samples to specific farm animal species.

Keywords: HAIR, WOOL, ANIMALS, SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY, MORPHOMETRIC INDICATORS

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