Mohamed Omar A, Khattab Ibrahim M, Elsagheer Mohammad A
Department of Poultry Production, Faculty of Desert and Environmental Agriculture, Matrouh University, Matrouh, Egypt.
Department of Animal and Fish Production, Faculty of Desert and Environmental Agriculture, Matrouh University, Matrouh, Egypt.
BMC Vet Res. 2025 Apr 14;21(1):275. doi: 10.1186/s12917-025-04696-x.
Artificial hatching and early artificial feeding of squabs can potentially reduce pigeon rearing costs, shorten breeding cycles, and enhance overall productivity. Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of early weaning on growth performance, feed consumption, parents' reproductive performance, and egg traits.
In Experiment 1, A total of 300 pairs of adult White Mirthys pigeons were randomly divided into three groups: W28, W7, and W0. These groups represent pigeons separated from their squabs at different ages: 28 days, 7 days, and 0 days (at hatch), respectively. Each group consisted of ten replicates, with each replicate comprising ten pairs of pigeons. In experiment 2, a total of 566 White Mirthys pigeon squabs were randomly assigned to three treatment groups: W28, W7, and W0. These groups represent squabs separated from their parents at different ages: 28 days, 7 days, and 0 days (at hatch), respectively.
The results indicated that early weaning of squabs significantly decreased body weight, weight gain, feed intake, and feed conversion ratio (P < 0.05), while also increasing the mortality rate in the W0 group compared to the W28 and W7 groups. There were no significant differences in body weight, weight gain, or mortality rate between the W28 and W7 groups. Pigeons in the W0 group exhibited significantly lower (P < 0.001) egg-laying cycle and reproductive cycle. Still, they produced more eggs laid and weaned squabs than the W28 and W7 groups. Early weaning had no significant impact on hatchability rate (P = 0.220), egg weight (P = 0.580), egg length (P = 0.308), egg width (P = 0.488), or egg shape index (P = 0.167). However, the eggs from the early weaning group (W0) had a lower shell thickness (P = 0.002) compared to the control (W28) and W7 groups.
Early weaning at hatching has been found to reduce the growth performance of squabs; however, it significantly enhances the reproductive performance of parent pigeons. This method presents a promising strategy for increasing the reproductive rate of parent pigeons and boosting the annual production of squabs.
乳鸽的人工孵化和早期人工喂养可能会降低鸽子养殖成本、缩短繁殖周期并提高整体生产力。进行了两项实验来评估早期断奶对生长性能、饲料消耗、亲鸽繁殖性能和蛋性状的影响。
在实验1中，总共300对成年白卡奴鸽被随机分为三组：W28、W7和W0。这些组分别代表在不同年龄与乳鸽分离的鸽子：28天、7天和0天（出壳时）。每组有十个重复，每个重复包括十对鸽子。在实验2中，总共566只白卡奴鸽乳鸽被随机分配到三个处理组：W28、W7和W0。这些组分别代表在不同年龄与亲鸽分离的乳鸽：28天、7天和0天（出壳时）。
结果表明，与W28和W7组相比，乳鸽的早期断奶显著降低了体重、体重增加、采食量和饲料转化率（P < 0.05），同时也增加了W0组的死亡率。W28组和W7组之间的体重、体重增加或死亡率没有显著差异。W0组的鸽子产蛋周期和繁殖周期显著缩短（P < 0.001）。然而，它们产的蛋和断奶乳鸽比W28组和W7组更多。早期断奶对孵化率（P = 0.220）、蛋重（P = 0.580）、蛋长（P = 0.308）、蛋宽（P = 0.488）或蛋形指数（P = 0.167）没有显著影响。然而，与对照组（W28）和W7组相比，早期断奶组（W0）的蛋的蛋壳厚度较低（P = 0.002）。
已发现出壳时早期断奶会降低乳鸽的生长性能；然而，它显著提高了亲鸽的繁殖性能。这种方法为提高亲鸽的繁殖率和增加乳鸽的年产量提供了一种有前景的策略。
