Kler, Tejdeep KaurKamalpreet Kaur2019-09-022019-09-022019http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810125449Birds are one of the major victims of environmental contaminants as they occupy a wide range of trophic levels in different food chains. The present study was carried out at the three study areas i.e. PAU (Ludhiana), Jagraon and Ladhowal to investigate the characteristics of eggs belonging to granivorous birds. The selected transects of the PAU, Ludhiana, Jagraon and Ladhowal were surveyed for the presence of granivorous birds i.e. Blue Rock Pigeon (Columba livia) and Ring Dove (Streptopelia decaocto). The number of Blue Rock Pigeon and Ring Dove was significantly different in different months in selected transects of study areas. The breeding season of selected birds was observed to be from first week of February, 2017 to last week of July, 2018. The morphometric parameters of eggs such as weight, length and width of eggs, specific gravity, egg volume, shape index and weight and percentage of components of eggs (shell, albumen and yolk) were determined along with calcium carbonate content and eggshell thickness. Results revealed that morphometry and parameters of eggs of Ring Dove and Blue Rock Pigeon varied significantly depending upon the availability of food and environmental contamination. Egg shell thickness and calcium content (weight and proportion) in Blue Rock Pigeon and Ring Dove were highest in eggs collected from Punjab Agricultural University (Ludhiana) followed by Ladhowal and Jagraon villages with thinner egg shell and lowest calcium content in egg shell. Organochlorine residues were not found in examined egg samples. Chlorpyriphos and triazophos pesticides exceeded Maximum Residual Limits (MRLs) of (0.01) mg/kg in examined samples collected from Jagraon. But no residue was found in eggs of Blue Rock Pigeon and Ring Dove collected from Punjab Agricultural University and Ladhowal. The chlorpyriphos was found to be higher in eggs of Blue Rock Pigeon than eggs of Ring Dove. In eggs of Blue Rock Pigeon and Ring Dove, 8 heavy metals were detected through ICAP-AES, out of which As, Cd, Pb were heavy metals and Cr, Cu, Ni, Zn, Mn were essential elements. The concentration of all metals varied significantly at 0.05% level of significance among the different locations of district Ludhiana. The large fluctuations in levels of heavy metals and pesticide residues between the species illuminate the fact that there are significant variations in the level of environmental contamination in which birds liveennullThesis