Studies on the energy content of pigeon feeds II. Determination of the incorporated energy

The effect of breed and sex on adult body composition of four pigeon breeds : Texan (TEX), Mondain (MON), Szeged Tumbler (SZT), and homing (HOM) and on the digestibility coefficients (DC) and metabolizable energy (ME) content of their feeds was studied. A total of eight groups, each comprising five m ales and five females of each breed, were used. All birds were fed the same pelleted pigeon feed (17.27% CP) ad libitum. After the metabolic study, th e whole body was analyzed for dry matter (DM), ash, CP, and ether extract ( EE) contents. The DC of DM, TEX, MON, and HOM pigeons did not differ signif icantly, whereas DC for the SZT breed were consistently lower. In the major ity of cases, the DC values obtained for males were higher, irrespective of the breed. The body composition of the two sexes was first compared within a given breed, and no major differences were detected. Interbreed differen ces were greater. The DM: content of the body of HOM pigeons exceeded that of;the other three breeds for both sexes. For ash and CP content of the bod y, the reverse was found, i.e., the values of-both parameters were lower in HOM pigeons. The HOM pigeons had significantly (P < 0.05) higher body fat (EE) content as compared with the other three breeds except TEX females. Th e NFE value for HOM also tend to be higher than in the other three breeds.