Histomorphometrical Characterization of Skin of Native Cattle (Bos indicus) in Bangladesh

Fresh skin samples of the native cattle (Bos indicus) of 6 male and 6 female were collected from ten regions of the body immediately after slaughtering aimed to know the regional and sex variation of skin components. The skin samples were fixed, processed and stained according to the standard histological procedure. The samples of vertical sections were stained by both Hematoxylin & Eosin stain and Van Geison & Verhoff’s stain. Transparent sheet and ocular micrometer was used for histomorphometric study. Histomorphometrical study of the skin revealed that the mean thicknesses of epidermis, papillary layer, reticular layer and total skin were 45.37 ± 0.59 µm, 0.55 ± 0.01 mm, 3.03 ± 0.09 mm and 3.57 ± 0.09 mm respectively. These thicknesses were significantly (P 0.05) highest in neck & shoulder and lowest in loin. The density of hair follicle was significantly (P<0.05) highest in back and lowest in ventral abdomen. In conclusion, male skin may be better than the female skin for the quality leather production. Collagen bundle is more compact in ventral abdomen that regions may be better for quality leather production, but the percentage of collagen did not revealed in this study.