Table 2.

Experiment 1: Initial and final body weights (BWs) and nitrogen (N) intake, excretion and balance of pigeons fed three diets of different CP contents (mean ± s.d., n = 5). Different lower-case letters in the same row indicate significant difference at p < 0.05 using Bonferroni's multiple comparison test. N balance = (N intake − N excreted).

diet (CP)	6%	10%	14%
initial BW (g)	368.0 ± 20.2	376.0 ± 13.2	380.4 ± 13.2
final BW (g)	350.5 ± 17.6	359.9 ± 16.3	356.8 ± 10.2
N intake (mg d−1)	196.5 ± 25.4a	349.7 ± 53.5b	534.7 ± 55.6c
N excreted (mg d−1)	201.4 ± 34.5a	279.1 ± 38.4b	414.1 ± 52.8c
N balance (mg d−1)	−4.9 ± 29.0a	70.5 ± 23.2b	120.6 ± 14.9c