A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF SOME FEED COLORS ON THE PRODUCTIVE AND REPRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE IN PIGEONS (COLUMBA LIVIA DOMESTICA)

Abstract

: The current study was conducted to investigate whether feed coloring red or green, could stimulate pigeons to consume more feed thereby enhancing both productive and reproductive performance. The statistical analysis used in this study was a completely randomized design. A total of 18 adult pairs of pigeons were used at the beginning of the experiment. In this study, the birds used were divided into three experimental basic groups: the control group, the red-colored ration, and then the third group, was fed the green-colored ration. Each treatment had 6 adult pairs for three consecutive nesting cycles. The results indicate that under the condition of this experiment, a significant difference observed in body weight at 4 weeks (BW4) among the experimental groups, with means of 385g for the control group, 406g for the red group, and 355g for the green ration group, Moreover, significant differences were observed in total weight gain, with means of 366, 398, and 341, feed intake with mean values of 90.0, 93.9, and 88.4, and relative feed conversion ratio of 5.72, 4.26, and 5.91 for the control, red-colored ration, and green-colored ration groups, respectively. However, there were no significant effects of red or green rations on egg weight, body weight at hatch, fertility, hatchability, egg-laying cycle, or the period between hatching and the next laying. Based on the results observed from this study, consumption of red-colored food gave better results with regard to productive performance, while there were no effects on reproductive traits in a short time. Further researches are needed to study the effect of more colors in pigeon feeds to determine their impact on both productive and reproductive performance.