Morphometric Comparison of Three Short-Beak Pigeon Breeds from The Aegean Region (Turkey) By Discriminant Analysis

Abstract

Hünkari, Manisa Azman, and Denizli Azman are short-beak local pigeon breeds originating from the Aegean region of Turkey. Although these three pigeon breeds are similar to each other, they differ from each other in terms of some traits. This study was planned to reveal the possible differences between these three short-beaked breeds by discriminant analysis with the help of some morphological traits. In order to compare these three breeds, the Edremit Kelebek pigeon, which differs significantly from these breeds, was used. For this purpose, live weight and beak, body, wing, tail, and tarsus lengths were analyzed. Except for tarsus length, all characteristics differ between breeds. Considering the proportional difference between the sexes (by female), the Denizli Azman differs from the other two short-beak breeds in terms of traits except for live weight. Edremit Kelebek pigeon differs from the other three breeds except for body weight and tarsus characteristics. In the classification made using canonical discriminant functions, the rate of correctly classified is 51% in Hünkâri, 59% in Manisa Azman, 87% in Denizli Azman. All Edremit Kelebek is correctly classified. In the component graph, the Hünkari and Manisa Azman are overlap, while the Denizli Azman is classified a little far from these two breeds. Edremit Kelebek, on the other hand, is classified far from these three breeds. In terms of the traits used, it is seen that the Hünkâri and Manisa Azman cannot be separated from each other biologically. Probably the Hünkari and Manisa Azman breeds are genetically related to Denizli Azman. However, considering the traits such as color, pattern, and frill, which are not the subject of this study, It is thought that Denizli Azman may have little or no gene flow with Hünkari and Manisa Azman.