The morphological characteristics of the Muradiye Dönek pigeon, a native Turkish genetic resource

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the morphological characteristics of Muradiye Dönek pigeon. It is a local animal genetic resource and cultural heritage and has an important place among the genotypes of domestic pigeons in Turkey. The animal material of this study consisted of 100 pigeons (50 females and 50 males) from seven pigeon enterprises. In the study, morphological characteristics were evaluated and morphometric measurements were determined. Body plumage colors of pigeons were determined as black (70%), red (16%) and blue (14%) galaca. In some birds, the yellow beaks and nails may bear black spots, which pigeon breeders refer to as ‘zikir’. The term ‘biyik’ (mustache) is used when black feathers appear among the white feathers on the head, and the term ‘kemer’ (belt) is used when black feathers appear in the tail. The differences between the mean values of body weight and wingspan (P<0.001), chest depth (P<0.05) values were statically significant for age groups, which were reported to affect flight characteristics in birds. As a result, when the morphological characteristics obtained in Muradiye Dönek pigeons are compared with other researchers, it is thought that the selection of these birds were carried out by the breeders in terms of the game behavior such as rotation movement during the diving and landing. Although the data obtained in the study support the hypothesis that Muradiye Dönek pigeons should be defined as a different breed, further studies with DNA analysis are required to confirm this situation.