Genetic investigation of Italian domestic pigeons increases knowledge about the long-bred history ofColumba livia(Aves: Columbidae)

Abstract

Genetic investigation of Italian domestic pigeons increases knowledge about the long-bred history of Columbalivia (Aves: Columbidae),

Genetic characterization of 11 microsatellite loci in Egyptian pigeons (Columba livia domestica) and their cross-species amplification in other Columbidae populations

“…[ 10 ], Bigi et al . [ 11 ] and Biała et al . [ 12 ] who studied Egyptian, Polish, and Italian pigeon populations, respectively.…”

“…The microsatellite is a marker of choice for studying the genetic diversity and relationships among closely related livestock breeds [ 11 , 12 ]. MtDNA of pigeon was used to construct a phylogenic tree for C. livia , Streptopelia , and other related taxa [ 13 ].…”

Feral pigeon populations: their gene pool and links with local domestic breeds

“…In particular, Simms 61 (1979) suggested that juveniles homing pigeons lost at the beginning of their training period constituted an 62 important component of feral populations at least in the UK. 63 In Italy, pigeon breeding has been an embedded activity since ancient times especially in Northern and 64 Central regions, where several domestic breeds have been selected (McNeillie 1976;Bigi et al 2016). It 65 can be assumed that these local breeds have mostly contributed to the Italian feral populations, possibly 66 with birds (both dovecote and wild individuals) imported mainly from Egypt (from the range of C. l. gaddi 67 and C. l. schimperi subspecies) and Spain, used in pigeon shooting ranges till the first half of the last 68 century (Ghigi in Toschi 1939).…”

“…It 65 can be assumed that these local breeds have mostly contributed to the Italian feral populations, possibly 66 with birds (both dovecote and wild individuals) imported mainly from Egypt (from the range of C. l. gaddi 67 and C. l. schimperi subspecies) and Spain, used in pigeon shooting ranges till the first half of the last 68 century (Ghigi in Toschi 1939). 69 In recent years, domestic pigeons have been the subject of several genetic investigations, mainly 70 aimed at understanding their relationships and their geographic origins (Stringham et al 2012;71 Shapiro et al 2013;Biala et al 2015;Bigi et al 2016;Domyan and Shapiro 2017), whereas feral 72 pigeons, on the contrary, received rather less attention. While a number of the above-mentioned 73 studies on domestic breeds actually included one group of feral pigeons in their analyses (e.g.…”

“…In particular, we would like to test the 82 hypothesis put forward by (Stringham et al 2012), that almost all feral populations should show strong 83 affinities with racing breeds. 84 We compared the genetic pattern of nine Italian feral populations distributed in areas with different 85 domestic pigeon breeding traditions with the aim of: 1) characterizing their genetic composition and 86 structure; 2) testing their affinities with a number of domestic pigeons commonly bred in Italy that could 87 have contributed to their actual genetic pool (Bigi et al 2016). For this reason, we included in the sampling 88 a number of feral populations belonging to the Pianura Padana (Pavia, Reggio Emilia, Modena), where the 89 breeding of racing pigeons is traditionally widespread and where a significant number of Italian breeds 90 originated (Ghigi 1950;Bigi et al 2016), and to Central (Pisa, Livorno) and Northeastern Italy (Venezia,91 Treviso, Bolzano), where racing pigeon breeding is rather less common ( Fig.…”