Table 2 Effect of herbal mixture on the growth performance and carcass characteristics of pigeon squabs.

Squabs

 BW(g), 1 d

20.70

20.10

20.60

0.73

0.827

 BW (g), 14 d

303.00

300.30

297.20

11.15

0.935

 BW (g), 28 d

367.20^b

426.20^a

416.80^a

8.53

< 0.001

ADG of squabs (g/d)

 1-14 d

20.16

20.01

19.76

0.77

0.930

 14-28 d

4.58^b

8.99^a

8.54^a

0.69

< 0.001

 1-28 d

12.37^b

14.50^a

14.15^a

0.29

< 0.001

Pair of breeding pigeon

 Initial BW (g)

855.67

877.63

869.00

40.83

0.930

 Final BW (g)

826.93

801.17

809.20

37.19

0.883

 Weight loss (g)

28.73

59.80

76.47

15.92

0.133

Pair of breeding pigeon and squabs

 ADFI (g/day)

153.28^a

148.62^b

147.31^b

1.01

0.003

 NFCR (g/g)

6.53^a

5.65^b

5.94^b

0.18

0.006

Carcass Characteristics (%)

 Dressing

65.41

65.16

64.53

1.70

0.894

 Liver

2.12

2.15

2.32

0.22

0.769

 Heart

0.82

0.83

0.802

0.06

0.946

 Gizzard

1.82

1.82

1.60

0.12

0.416

 Procentrioles

0.24

0.22

0.18

0.04

0.243

 Pancreas

0.242

0.342

0.30

0.06

0.558

 Bursa

0.18

0.19

0.11

0.03

0.353

 Thymus

0.54

0.54

0.48

0.13

0.937

 Spleen

0.05

0.05

0.07

0.01

0.088

 Abdominal fat

0.52

0.53

0.71

0.05

0.101