Background: A limited research on effect of heat stress on pigeon. This study evaluates the effect of heat stress on reproductive behavior, performance, net return, economic efficiency, total aerobic microbial count, carcass traits and biochemical parameters, in addition to investigating the role of propolis or wheat diets to alleviate its effect.
Methods: A total of 24 pairs of pigeons were allocated into 24 house pens (4 treatmentx3 replicatex2pair for each replicate) which were reared under heat stress condition (summer season in Egypt for 3 months). Reproductive behavior and performance of pigeons were observed daily. While, carcass traits, total aerobic microbial count and biochemical parameters were investigated at the end of an experiment.
Result. Obtained data revealed that, heat stress condition lead to increasing the aggressive part of courtship behavior, decreased egg production, egg weight, fertility% and hatchability % .
Conclusion, the addition of propolis to basal diet helped in relieving the effect of heat stress, however, the wheat diet had a negative impact on heat stress condition in pigeon
Key words: Courtship period, heat stress, propolis, and wheat
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