Acta Veterinaria et Zootechnica Sinica ›› 2020, Vol. 51 ›› Issue (9): 2048-2058.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2020.09.002

• REVIEW • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Research Progress on the Composition and Production Regulatory Mechanism of Pigeon Milk

BIAN Shixiong, SUN Yanyan, MA Hui*, CHEN Jilan*   

  1. The Key Laboratory of Animal(Poultry) Genetic, Breeding and Reproduction of Ministry of Agriculture, Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China
  • Received:2019-11-27 Online:2020-09-25 Published:2020-09-25

Abstract: Pigeon milk (PM) is a semi-solid nutrient substance produced and secreted by the crop of pigeon and it is the only nutritional source of squab. Squabs should be fed by their parents because they could not eat by themselves, so PM is very important for their growth and development. The production and secretion of PM is a special physiological process, which is rare in birds and different from the lactation process of mammals. PM is mainly composed of proteins, lipids, carbohydrates and minerals. Synthesis and secretion of PM are regulated by numerous hormones such as prolactin, insulin and relaxin. The signaling pathways such as JAK/STAT, PI3K/Akt/TOR, AMPK and Wnt are activated by these hormones and then the expression of related genes are regulated. The processes of crop epithelial cell proliferation, degeneration, nutrient synthesis and enrichment are regulated. The composition of pigeon milk and its production regulatory mechanism are reviewed, we compare these characteristics of PM with mammalian milk, and the physiological mechanism of pigeon milk production by crop and its similarities and differences with mammalian mammary lactation are further clarified. Research on the composition of PM will provide reference for the formulating of breeding pigeon nutrition requirements and research of artificial PM. The regulation mechanism of PM production will further find out genes regulating lactation and select breeding populations with high yield of PM by using molecular marker-assisted breeding technology.

Key words: pigeon, pigeon milk, crop, hormone, regulatory mechanism

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