Simple Summary

Swan geese are becoming a very popular economic wildfowl in China, however, there lacks nutrient requirement guidelines for farmed Swan geese. This study evaluated the effects of supplemental feeding of dietary metabolizable energy (ME) level [9.5, 11.5, and 13.5 MJ/kg of dry matter (DM)] on growth and carcass characteristics of grazing Swan geese. The results showed that growth performance and body-size measurements (except shank length) were greatly improved by offering supplemental feeds to grazing geese, with no difference among supplemental feeding treatments. As DM intake (DMI) decreased with increasing dietary ME from day 29 to 56; meanwhile, slaughter, semi-eviscerated, eviscerated, and thigh muscle yield decreased with increasing dietary ME on day 56, and a well-balanced supplemental diet with ME of 9.5 MJ/kg of DM was recommended to improve growth and meat production of grazing Swan geese.

Grazing Swan geese (Anser cygnoides) have good meat quality but grow slowly. This study aimed to study whether supplemental feeding could improve growth performance of grazing Swan geese and investigate a suitable dietary metabolizable energy (ME) level of supplemental diet for grazing Swan geese. Naturalized healthy male Swan geese (n = 144; 42 +/- 2.0 days and 1.21 +/- 0.17 kg) were randomly allocated into 4 groups and grazed on pasture alone (control, CON) or offered supplemental diets with ME of 9.5, 11.5, or 13.5 MJ/kg of DM after grazing. Growth performance and body-size measurements (including bone development) were lower (p < 0.05) in CON versus supplemented geese, as well as slaughter measurements on days 28 and 56. The DM intake linearly decreased (p < 0.01) with increasing dietary ME from day 29 to 56. Slaughter, semi-eviscerated, eviscerated, and thigh muscle yield linearly (p < 0.01) decreased with increasing dietary ME on day 56. Lightness (L*) and yellowness (b*) for breast and thigh muscle on days 28 and 56, and breast muscle shear force on day 56, were lower (p < 0.01) in supplemented versus CON geese. In conclusion, supplemental feeding improved growth performance and carcass characteristics of grazing Swan geese, and supplemental feed with ME of 9.5 MJ/kg of DM could be offered to improve growth and meat quality of grazing Swan geese.