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Acta Prataculturae Sinica ›› 2015, Vol. 24 ›› Issue (8): 181-187.DOI: 10.11686/cyxb2014387

• Orginal Article • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effects of alfalfa pellet feed on slaughter performance, organ weights and blood biochemical indices of geese

ZHAN Jin-Shun1, ZHAN Kang1, LIU Ming-Mei1,2, HUO Yong-Jiu1, LIN Miao1, ZHAO Guo-Qi1*, YANG Fu-Yu3*   

  1. 1.College of Animal Science and Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China;
    2.Jiangsu Joint Institute of Technology of Profession of Huai’an Bio-engineering Branch, Huai’an 223200, China;
    3.College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
  • Online:2015-08-20 Published:2015-08-20

Abstract: To investigate effects of alfalfa pellet feed on slaughter performance, organs and blood biochemical indices of geese, 300 healthy Yangzhou geese at 21 d were chosen and randomly divided into 5 groups (control group and trial groups Ⅰ to Ⅳ) with 3 replicates in each group and 20 geese per replicate. The trial period lasted for 7 weeks. The diets of different groups were supplemented with 0 (control group), 8% (group Ⅰ), 12% (group Ⅱ), 16% (group Ⅲ) and 20% (group Ⅳ) alfalfa meal in the first 3 weeks, and 0 (control group), 12% (groupⅠ), 16% (groupⅡ), 20% (group Ⅲ) and 24% (group Ⅳ) in the last 4 weeks, respectively. Key results were: 1) the live weight, semi-eviscerated weight, eviscerated weight, muscle weight, breast muscle weight and tibia weight of geese in group Ⅲ were significantly higher than those in the control group at 42 and 70 days; 2) the thymus weight of geese in group Ⅱ and the liver weight of geese in group Ⅲ were significantly higher than those in the control group (P<0.05) at 42 and 70 days; 3) at 42 days, the levels of TG, TC and LDL of serum in all trial groups except group Ⅱ were significantly lower than those in the control group (P<0.05). In contrast, the control group had significantly higher serum HDL levels than the trial groups. At the 70 days, the levels of TC and HDL of serum in all experimental groups except group Ⅱ were significantly higher than those in control group (P<0.05) but TG levels did not differ between groups. In conclusion, this study indicates that alfalfa pellet diet supplementation can improve slaughter performance, organ development and blood biochemical indices of Yanzhou geese. The optimum levels of alfalfa meal in diet for geese were 16% and 20% at 21 to 42 days and 43 to 70 days, respectively.