The blue colour of the feathers in some parrots is due to a genetic mutation affecting the production of the psittacofulvin pigment. This pigment is responsible for the colours yellow to red, whereas the blue in these parrots comes from a feather structure rather than pigments.
A recent study of two species of lovebird, Masked lovebird (Agapornis personatus) and Fischer's lovebird (Agapornis fischeri) revealed that the blue colour is linked to a specific mutation in a gene called MuPKS. The BIRD-BLUE test can be used to detect the presence of this mutation.
