In the current study,the nutritional components of pigeon milk and the growth performance of young squab under different parental sex and bird nursing number were investigated.A total of 288 squabswere sampled at post-hatching day 2,4,6,and 8 for evaluation of the pigeon milk,and another 36 squabs were tested thoughout the whole 28 post-hatching growth day for evaluation of growth performance.The results showed that parental sex,bird nursing number and age in days significantly affected the nutrients in pigeon milk.Male parental pigeons secretedmilk with more CP (crude protein) ,CF (crude fat) ,TE (total energy) ,P (phosphorus) ,and the amino acids Val,Gly and His compared to the female pigeons.In addition,lower amounts of the routine nutritional components (TE,CP,CF,P,Ca) and all the amino acids analyzed were detected as the bird nursing number increased from 1 to 2.Throughout the trial,the squabs fed by the male pigeons showed better growth performance than the squabs fed by the female pigeons.The female pigeons had a positive body weight change despite the large amounts of pigeon milk and feeding task output,while the male pigeons showed a negative change during the same period.Although squabs nursed with siblings received a lower amount of nutrients,no significant difference in growth performance was found attributable to the nursing number.In conclusion,the pigeon milk secreted by the male parent was higher in nutrients than that from the female and led to a better growth performance of the young squab.As the nursing number increased,diluted nutrients in the milk were received by the squabs,but this caused no significant difference in growth performance.The nutrient differences in the milk might contribute to the differences in body deposition metabolism between the genders in parental pigeons.In designing the diet of parental pigeons during lactation or designing the diet for artificial feeding of squab,the nutrient parameters of milk from the male pigeon should be the preferred reference source.