A comparative anatomical and histological study of the tongue and lingual papillae in adult Awassi rams (Ovis ovis)‎ and Billy-goat (Capra hircus)‎

Abstract EN

The purpose of the study was to unveil the comparative of macroscopic and microscopic features of the tongue and lingual papillae in adult rams and billy-goat (1.5-2 years old).

Ten tongue specimens of each rams and billy-goat were used to study the anatomical and histological features.

Results were demonstrated that the mean total length of the tongue in rams was longer than that in billy-goat.

The tongue of rams has gray or blackish color with nearly round apex and not has median groove, while the tongue of billy-goat was pink in color with a sharp rounded anterior edge and the apex of tongue was flattened like spatula shaped and has median groove, black spot was found on the dorsal surface in tongue of billy-goat only.

In both species the body of tongue presented a well developed torus linguae and fossa linguae, the root was shorter part of the tongue lies caudally to the body of the tongue and slopes ventrally and caudally toward the base of the epiglottis, and the root was has conical papillae on each side of its.

There were five types of papillae in tongue of both rams and billy-goat; the filiform, fungiform, conical, lenticular and vallate papillae.

The filiform papillae were soft horny threadlike papillae found on dorsal, lateral and ventral surfaces of tongue, and were lined by keratinization stratified squamous epithelium.

Mean number and diameter of the fungiform papillae in rams were more than that in billy-goat, it was round, convex, mushroom-like, distributed on the dorsal and ventral surfaces of the apex and body of tongue and have numerous taste bud and lined by keratinized epithelium.

The conical papillae have a round base and a blunt tip, they were found rostral to the torus linguae in each species and this papilla was lined by keratinized epithelium.

The lenticular papillae were convex lens in shape found in the middle part of torus linguae, and were covered by keratin layer.

Mean number of vallate papillae in rams were more than that in billy-goat, it was round to oval in shape found on the lateral side to torus linguae arranged in two rows has V shape and were covered by a cornified layer.

Foliate papillae were absent in both species.

The Von Ebner's glands of rams were serous, while in billy-goat were mucous, Weber's glands were sero-mucous in both species, which located under the vallate papillae.

In conclusion: The morphology of tongue, the number, distribution and morphological characteristics of lingual papillae of ram and billy-goat were related to the species of animal, kind of diet and feeding habits.