A Retrospective Study of Aviadenoviruses in Ornamental Pigeons from Türkiye: Healthy or Infected?

The family Aviadenoviridae has long been regarded to as an important group of pathogens, acting either as primary etiological agents or as contributing factors in a variety of diseases affecting domestic bird species. Although intensive commercial production systems are well-established for poultry species such as chickens, turkeys, and ducks, pigeon breeding represents a comparatively small and specialised sector encompassing meat production, racing, and ornamental purposes. Consequently, aviadenoviral infections in pigeons remain neglected and insufficiently investigated. Thus, aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence of aviadenoviruses in healthy adult ornamental pigeons and to evaluate their potential carrier status. A total of 103 faecal samples were collected from 21 pigeon lofts. Conventional PCR analysis revealed an overall PiAdV-2 positivity of 10.68% (11/103 samples; 95% CI: 5.45–18.31%), whereas pigeon adenovirus 1 (PiAdV-1) and fowl adenoviruses were not detected in any of the examined samples. Furthermore, phylogenetic and computational analyses gave further insights into the hexon gene characteristics of PiAdV-2 and contributed to a broader understanding of aviadenoviral evolution. Overall, the findings suggest that PiAdV-2 alone is insufficient to induce overt disease and that the development of clinical infection is likely multifactorial, involving interactions between host- and agent-related factors.