INVESTIGATION OF VITAMINS AND SELENIUM ON PRODUCTION AND REPRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE OF INDIGENOUS PIGEON

Abstract

Today the use of insecticides, pesticides, etc. in the crop field and the unavailability of croplands due to urbanization causes a major threat to pigeon farming in the extensive system. So, now it is time to give attention to commercial farming through the intensive method of pigeon housing. The goal of this research work was to investigate the vitamins and selenium on the growth and reproductive performance of indigenous Gola pigeon in the confinement-rearing system. A total of 16 pair of (3-month-old) pigeons for a period of 9 month were used in the experiment. Pigeons were randomly distributed into 4 treatment groups; T 0 (Control), T 1 (Basal diet + Vitamin A, D, E & Se), T 2 (Basal diet + Vitamin B-complex) and T 3 (Basal diet + Vitamin A, D, E & Se + Vitamin Bcomplex) having 4 replication.

In this study, feed intake (FI) and live weight (LW) at

23 week showed no significant differences (P>0.05) among the treatments. However,

significant differences (P<0.05) were found for LWG and the growth rate of pigeons at

12 to 23 week of age. The highest LWG and growth rate were observed in the T 3 group (87.75g and 34.23%) which was treated with vitamins A, D, E, Se and B-complex, whereas the lowest was in the T 2 group. No significant differences (P>0.05) were observed in various treatments for the following parameters; egg production, egg weight, hatchability and hatch percentage. But the highest hatchability (90.63%) was noticed in the T 2 groups. There was no significant difference (P>0.05) observed for the day-old weight of the squab. However, significant differences (P<0.05) were found in weekly live weight (LW), live weight gain (LWG), weekly growth rate (GR) and dressing percentage (DP) of squab due to different supplementations. The highest LW noticed in the T 3 group was 159.35, 218.34 and 274.05g, respectively for the 1

and 3 rd week of squab. The maximum growth rate of squab was detected in the 1 week, followed by the 2 nd and 3 rd weeks of age. Maximal DP was found in T 3 (61.90%) and then followed by T 0 (61.54%), T 1 (59.86%) and T 2 (58.13%) groups. Whereas survivability rate and FCR were not significantly influenced (P>0.05) by different treatment groups. Yet, better FCR (4.36) was obtained in the vitamins A, D, E, Se and B-complex treated group than in other supplemental groups. Analyzing the above research findings, it was obtained that pigeons fed with vitamins A, D, E, Se and Bcomplex (T 3 ) achieved superior results than others and had a very effective impact on the growth and reproductive performance.