Relationships between head-beak morphology and feed intake behaviour as well as rearing of nestlings in a short beak pigeon breed

Savaş T., Konyalı C., Tölü C., Das G., Yurtman İ. Y.

ARCHIV FUR GEFLUGELKUNDE, cilt.72, sa.2, ss.90-96, 2008 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 72 Sayı: 2
  • Basım Tarihi: 2008
  • Dergi Adı: ARCHIV FUR GEFLUGELKUNDE
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.90-96
  • Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

The results of previous studies indicated that selection for aesthetic breeding goals in the short beak pigeon breed Half-Baska resulted in disadvantages in feed intake. In addition, a high variation in feed intake time in the short beak breed as compared to the normal beak breed was reported. This led to the hypothesis that feed intake behaviour is not only affected by the length of the beak but also by head morphology as well as beak width and beak height. Moreover, the beak plays an important role in feeding of nestlings in pigeons. Therefore, the rearing performance of pigeon breeds with a short and a normal beak was compared. The breed Half-Baska (HB), originating from northwest Turkey, was used as a model bird for short beak pigeons. English Flyingtippler (EF) was used for the comparison. During rearing several clutches of HB and EF breeding pairs (with similar days of hatch) were randomly exchanged. Thus four groups were formed: I. HB birds feeding HB squabs (CB-CB), 2. HB birds feeding EF squabs (HB-EF), 3. EF birds feeding HB squabs (EF-HB), and 4. EF birds feeding EF squabs (EF-EF).