EARLY WEANING OF PIGEON SQUABS | ||||
| Egyptian Poultry Science Journal | ||||
| Article 12, Volume 36, Issue 1, March 2016, Page 205-232 PDF (588.61 K) | ||||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||||
| DOI: 10.21608/epsj.2016.33249 | ||||
 View on SCiNiTO | ||||
| Authors | ||||
| A. F. Abd el azeem; A A Amir; T A Shama; W A Abas | ||||
| Fac. of Agric., Al-Azhar Univ., Naser City, Cairo, Egypt | ||||
| Abstract | ||||
| The main objective of this study was to increase the reproductive performance and profitability of pigeons by weaning of squabs at 3rd d post-hatching. If parents did not need to feed their squabs for about 28 d more eggs would be obtained from each pair of pigeons, where new laying cycle is initiated after weaning. In the first 3 d of life it is very difficult to weaning squabs because they completely dependent on pigeon crop milk (PCM), which contains immunoglobulin and other unknown compounds necessary for survival. However, at the end of 3rd d of nestling period crop milk replacer (CMR) can be made and successfully given for squabs till the end of growth period. A total number of 135 squabs (36.01±1.7g) were taken at the end of 3rd d post-hatching, which was randomly divided into 3 groups (45 squabs / group) with 3 replicates containing 15 squabs for each. The previous weaning groups compared with the PCM which contains 45 squabs leaved with their parents as a control group. The weaning groups were artificially fed by 3 different CMR containing 42.14, 44.15 and 48.12 % CP and 3277.5, 3308.7 and 3371.1 ME kcal/kg. Squabs were hand fed with CMR slurries composed of soya flour based diet, with added gluten, eggs, powder milk, yeast, and supplemental minerals, vitamins and oil. Eggs and powder milk were added to duplicate the nutrient composition of CMR. In the first stage of weaning (3 - 14 d), CMR were given for squabs containing 14% diet and 86% water by weight, followed by 20 % diet and 80 % water for the next growth period (15-28 d). Results indicated that early weaning is a new method to increase frequency of reproduction of parent stock, where annual squab production increased. Growth rate of weaning squabs was not negatively (P≤0.05) affected by hand feeding compared to PCM group. However, growth rate for either PCM or CMR groups was quick until d 14 and then progressively decreased afterwards, where the negative growth rate occurs at the 5th wk. There were significant (P≤0.05) differences observed for most blood parameters due to feeding CMR. While, insignificant differences observed for most carcass traits, with exception of body weight, spleen, wing and abdominal fat weight percentages. However, CP % and EE % in whole carcass insignificantly affected due to feeding CMR. In general, it could be concluded that squabs have been successfully hand-reared by using CMR, where the major benefit seen with the applying early weaning is providing an economical benefit by allowing more squabs at the end of the year and increase overall fecundity. | ||||
| Keywords | ||||
| early weaning; Crop Milk Replacer; Squab Growth Rate | ||||
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