Table 1.
Ingredient composition and nutrient levels of the basic diet of parental pigeons1.
| Items | Content, % |
|---|---|
| Corn | 42.55 |
| Wheat | 12.77 |
| Pea | 25.53 |
| Sorghum | 12.77 |
| Green bean | 6.38 |
| Total | 100.00 |
| Calculated nutrients2, % | |
| Metabolizable energy, MJ/kg | 12.31 |
| Crude protein | 13.50 |
| Crude fat | 2.67 |
| Calcium | 0.08 |
| Total phosphorous | 0.31 |
| Analyzed nutrients, % | |
| Crude protein | 13.43 |
| Crude fat | 2.94 |
| Calcium | 0.18 |
| Total phosphorous | 0.39 |
| Ingredients of grit meal (%) | |
| Limestone | 52.93 |
| Shell meal | 28.10 |
| Yellow mud | 14.05 |
| Salt | 1.41 |
| Ferrous sulfate (monohydrate) | 0.23 |
| Premix3 | 3.28 |
| Total | 100.00 |
All feeds were fed in a whole-grain form at 8.00 and 16.00 hours each day, and grit meal was offered to pigeons consistently. The feeds were offered to adult pigeons in both control groups and EW group.
Nutrition values and metabolizable energy values determined in pigeons were calculated from table of feed composition and nutritive values in China (31st edition, 2020). A previous study reported that there was not significant difference between chicken and pigeons on metabolizable energy values (Hullar et al., 1999).
The premixes provided the following per kg of diet: Vitamin A 5,000 IU, Vitamin D3 2,000 IU, Vitamin E 500 IU; CU (as copper sulphate) 15 mg, Fe (as ferrous sulfate) 100 mg, Mn (as manganese sulfate) 45 mg, Zn (as zinc sulfate) 90 mg.