Effect On Growth Performance And Meat Quality Of Yangzhou Goose Cultured On Winter Fallow Field Grass

Raising goose with winter fallow field grass is a strategy that the green manure and grass were planted and the geese were fed on the pasture during the paddy field fallow period,which can improve farmland ecological environment and increase income effectively as well as combine planting and breeding industry efficiently.As a new ecological farming method,raising goose on winter fallow field grass still has several issues,which need to be improved furtherly.For example,whether the goose weight can achieve market weight within the specified time is unknown.Besides,the consumers widely recognized products obtained from grass-fed animals as more natural and healthy.However,the true variations in this system regarding various aspects remain unclear.And it still lacks of technical parameters in the system.To solve these problems,the 28-day-old Yangzhou geese with basically the similar weight were randomly assigned to one of four treatments,and raised in separate pens(30 geese per pen,3 replicates per treatment).The treatments applied were A)grazing,no supplemental grain,B)grazing,late supplementary grain(64 to 70 d),C)grazing,supplemental grain,and D)confined,grain only.We compared the growth performance and meat quality of Yangzhou goose received grass in the pasture or fed conventional diet in the house.The main results as follow:Firstly,the goose showed good growth and development with grazing and supplementary grain treatment,their weight of 70-day-old geese was up to 3647.10g,which was equivalent to the geese fed the grain in house(P>0.05).While the feed conversion ratio was improved(feed conversion rate was 2.42:1)in this treatment.In addition,the leg muscle was more developed when the geese was grazed on pasture.Secondly,the protein content and muscle collagen in both the breast and thigh muscles were significantly higher in the grazing treatment than for geese in the confined treatment(22.53%and 1.50%in breast muscle;23.08%and 1.20%in thigh muscle)(P<0.01)while fat content exhibited the opposite tendency(2.24%in breast muscle;3.51%in thigh muscle)(P<0.01).However,there were no differences in pH or cholesterol among the different feeding systems(P>0.05).Thirdly,compared to geese fed grain only,those fed grass and supplementary grain had a higher Mg and Cu content in the breast muscle(P<0.05),while there was no different in thigh muscle.The stearic acid,linolenic acid and arachidic acid were significantly higher in breast muscle from the geese fed grass and supplementary grain than those fed grain only(P<0.05).While the linoleic acid and linolenic acid were significantly improved in thigh muscle(P<0.05),but the palmitic acid,oleic acid and DHA were significantly lower(P<0.05).The cholesterol content was no different in grass-fed and grass-fed supplementary diet in thigh muscle,but grass-fed is higher in breast muscle(66.58 mg/100g).Additionally,in order to explore the relationship between DNA methylation and muscle quality,we measured the DNA methylation in different feeding systems,the results showed that the DNA methylation was reduce in grass-fed geese.Correlation analysis showed that DNA methylation of the thigh muscle was significantly related to protein content and unsaturated fatty acids(P<0.05).Finally,to improve raising goose on winter fallow field grass,the technical parameters such as carrying capacity,grazing plan and feeding volume were studied.Based on different stage and food intake,we come up with that 15 geese/mu,3-4 d/rotate and putting forward supplementary diet are the best.In conclusion,geese will grow to their full potential when kept on winter fallow field,allowed to consume grass from pasture and supplemented with grain,which in a certain extent can improve the meat quality and reduce the feed conversion rate,which suggests that this feeding system is an ideal model for goose production.