Dietary metabolizable energy (ME) and crude protein (CP) are key determinants of production efficiency in geese; however, their combined effects during the rapid growth phase are not well defined. A total of 240 male goslings were assigned to four treatments in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement, with six replicates per treatment and 10 birds per replicate. We used a 2 × 2 factorial design to evaluate two ME levels (11.20 vs. 11.65 MJ/kg) and two CP levels (16% vs. 14%) in goslings from 35 to 63 days of age. Growth performance, carcass traits, meat quality, serum biochemical indices, and instrumental taste attributes were measured. Increasing ME increased body weight at day 63 and average daily gain (p 0.05). In conclusion, modest changes in dietary ME and CP modulated growth and selected carcass, color, and metabolic traits without compromising key technological meat-quality parameters. These results indicate that, during 35–63 days of age, the higher-ME diet (11.65 MJ/kg) combined with a moderate CP reduction to 14% can be considered a feasible formulation option under the conditions of this study.
Li et al. (Tue,) studied this question.