Morphological characteristics of the cakal, mulakat and oriental pigeon breeds raised in the marmara region of turkey

Abstract

This study was aimed to determine the morphological characteristics of Cakal, Mulakat and Oriental roller pigeon in Marmara region in Turkey. The study materials were consisted of 300 pigeons reared in 16 different enterprieses. The pigeons were examined for plumage colour, markings, head crest and foot feathers, eye colour, number of wing feathers, number of tail feathers, body weight and some other morphological measurements. Statistically significant differences were observed between the sex groups for body weight, head width, beak depth, trunk length (P<0,001) in Çakal, Mulakat and Oriental pigeons. It was determined that, in comparison to the local Turkey pigeon breeds (Bursa and Thrace roller, Ankara Tumbler, Squadron Flyer, Dewlap) raised in Turkey, the Cakal is small-sized, the Mulakat is medium-sized and the Oriental is large-sized. Furthermore, the comparison of the age groups for some morphological measurements demonstrated that the Oriental and Cakal pigeons grew slower than the Mulakat pigeon. © 2020, Agricultural Research Communication Centre. All rights reserved.