The chemical composition of the uropygial gland secretion of rock dove Columba livia

The uropygial gland is a holocrine secretory gland of birds. The lipid and the waxy sebum that the gland secretes is coated on the beak and transferred to the plumage in preening. The composition of the gland secretions from birds of different species has been determined, but little is known about the lipids of the secretion of the gland of the rock dove Columba livia. The amount of secretion, the total lipid content and the fatty acids composition of the secretion of C. livia captured in the nonbreeding season was reported. The mean amount of the secretion within the gland was 30 mg; the mean lipid content of the secretion was 0.385 mg/mg of secretion, which was equivalent to approximately 38% of the secretion. The weight of the secretion relative to gland weight was 32%. If we assume that the amount of the gland secretion constitutes a valid parameter to determine the degree of the gland development, our results indicate that the physiological role of the gland does not depend upon gland mass (GW); the rock dove in particular has a small gland, but its secretion represented 32% of the gland's mass. The composition of the lipids extracted from the gland secretion consisted of C14 to C20 fatty acids, most of them were unsaturated. The secretion of the gland contained approximately 59% of unsaturated fatty acids with a prevalence of oleic acid (37%) and a low content of linoleic (6%) and arachidonic acids (7%). The saturated long chain fatty acids were mainly 14:0, 16:0 and 18:0 in a percentage of approximately 34%. No sexual differences were found in any of the evaluated parameters.