Abstract

The female reproductive system consists of the primary sex organ, the ovary, the reproductive tract, and the sec­ondary sex organs. The ovaries’ size, shape, and anatomical positions show huge variability among mammals.

P. K. Das (X) ∙ J. Mukherjee ∙ D. Banerjee

Department of Veterinary Physiology, West Bengal University of

Animal & Fishery Sciences, Kolkata, West Bengal, India

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023

499

P. K. Das et al. (eds.), Textbook of Veterinary Physiology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-9410-4_21

Graphical Abstract

Description of the graphic: Female reproductive tract lying in the pelvic cavity below the rectum (1) can be categorised into bicornuate (2), bipartite (3), simplex (4) and duplex (5), according to morphological features of the uterus and cervix. The female reproductive system of birds (6) is morphologically different from mammals. The physiological activities of the reproductive system alter during different reproductive states (presented by reverse arrow), such as ovarian follicular dynamic and oestrous cycle (7), the influence of endocrines, e.g.

Keywords

Morphology ∙ Primary female reproductive organs ∙ Sec­ondary female reproductive organs ∙ Avian female repro­ductive system

Learning Objectives

• Functional morphology of ovary.

• Functional morphology of reproductive tract consisting of oviduct, uterus, vagina and vulva in female reproduction.

• Characteristics of accessory sex organs, viz. vestibular glands, vestibular bulbs, hymen and clitoris.

• Uniqueness in secondary sex organs in avian.

The female reproductive system consists of the primary sex organ (ovary), reproductive tract consisting of the oviduct, uterus, vagina and vulva and accessory sex organs, viz. vestibular glands, vestibular bulbs, hymen and clitoris (Fig. 21.1). Ovaries are paired organs divided into left and right ovaries responsible for oogenesis and the production of hormones. A pair of tortuous oviducts remains close to the ovaries and is divided into a funnel-like opening, the infun­dibulum, followed by a convoluted ampulla and isthmus tube. The uterus consists of two uterine horns fused with the isthmus of the oviduct, a body and a neck continued towards the exterior of the body through the cervix. Through suspensory ligaments, the entire reproductive tract and

Fig. 21.1 Reproductive system of ewe. Figure shows the major parts of the female reproductive system with one body of the uterus, and both sides horn of uterus (uterine horn), fallopian tube ended with infundibulum having fimbriae at the edge to receive the ovum from the ovary. The single body of the uterus is continued with the single cervix, vagina and vulva. The urethra opens in the vagina at the urethral opening

Fig. 21.2 Position of cow’s reproductive tract. Figure shows the lateral view of the cow’s reproductive tract, including the ovary, uterine horn, body of uterus, cervix, vagina and vulva with urinary bladder.

ovaries suspend within the pelvic cavity. These ligaments support the various parts of the reproductive system and provide the channel for nerves and blood vessels to the reproductive system. The urinary bladder is located below the reproductive tract and opens at the vagina. The rectum is positioned above the reproductive tract (Fig. 21.2), and the tract can be palpated and manipulated per rectal examination. There is variability in the morphological features of the female reproductive tract between species (Table 21.1) dur­ing different stages of the reproductive cycle.

Table 21.1 The morphometric features (in cm) of the different parts of the female reproductive system of animals

Rt = right, Lt = left, L = length, W = width, T = thick, NS = non-season, S = season ^a Haque et al. (2016)

^b Eker and Salmanoglu (2006)

^c Conze and Wehrend (2017)

^d Drennan and Macpherson (1966)

^e Pineda and Dooley (2003) ^fMcAuliffe (2013)

^g Vicencio et al. (2017)

^h Lohachit et al. (1981)

¹ Devkota and Singh (2017)

j Jaji et al. (2013)

^k Carvalho et al. (2010)

¹ Knight et al. (2016) ^mLevy (2016)

ⁿ Bergfelt (2016)

21.1