Gender identification method using a feather in Psittacine birds.

A peculiar problem lies behind the breathtaking colors of Psittacine birds, more commonly known as the parrot family (including parakeets and macaws) — identifying their gender based on morphology is not easy because most of them are monomorphic meaning both males and females are similar in size and appearance. The Avian and Exotic Pet Unit of the Department of Wildlife Sciences at the Madras Veterinary College (MVC) offers a non-invasive DNA sexing technique by testing a feather for major Psittacine bird species, including budgerigars, lutino and African love birds, cockatiels, cockatoos, conures and macaws. They are the first government institution in the country to achieve this breakthrough, even though some private laboratories are offering the facility. “Sexing, even of young birds, is important in avian breeding and evolutionary studies. Sexing is currently performed by expensive and time-consuming procedures such as vent sexing, laparoscopy, steroid sexing and karyotyping (a chromosomal evaluation). These procedures may cause pain and are a threat to the health status of the birds. The sexing is done using the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) method ,the PCR method substantially reduces stress and bleeding in birds. The gender identification is carried out by presenting just the feather of the chick or adult bird to the laboratory and its gender is determined in a couple of days. This procedure can also be used for gender identification of other birds such as pigeons. Sexing is possible in budgerigars from the male’s bright blue cere (the fleshy section above the beak); the female’s cere is a pinkish brown. Similarly, the grey cockatiel has distinguishable features that enable sexing visually. more