The determination of some morphological characteristics of Bursa Oynarı pigeon breed.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the morphological characteristics and to describe some quantitative traits of Bursa Oynarı native pigeon breed in Bursa province in Turkey. The study was carried out on a total of randomly selected 43 Bursa Oynarı pigeons (23 males, 20 females). The morphological characteristics (head type, eye colour, head and bib colour, neck blend colour, beak type and colour, head plumage, ventral abdomen colour and claw colour) and the quantitative traits (body weight and morphometric measurements) were determined from both male and female pigeons. The results indicated that the most frequent morphological characteristics of this pigeon breed were round shaped head (72.09%), dusty rose eye colour (67.44%), veiled head/bib colour (37.21%), purple neck blend colour (53.49%), flat-shaped type beak (67.44%), white beak (51.16%), markless head plumage (69.77%), white ventral abdomen colour (93.02%) and white claw colour (95.35%). Sex significantly (P<0.01) affected the quantitative traits such as the body length, leg length and tail length. Male pigeons had higher means of the mentioned traits than those of female pigeons. Over the past few decades, there has been an increased awareness for the conservation of native breeds for their importance to genetic diversity. Thus, studies conducted on native breeds in various species may provide a noteworthy contribution to this purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]