Effects of Graded Hydroxylated Lecithin Supplementation on Growth Performance, Serum Lipid-Related Indices, Meat Quality, and Tissue-Specific Gene Expression in Jiangnan White Geese

Conventional soybean lecithin has limited hydrophilicity, which may restrict its efficacy as a feed emulsifier. This study evaluated graded hydroxylated lecithin supplementation in Jiangnan White geese. Six hundred one-day-old females were allocated to five treatments, with six pens of 20 geese each: a basal diet, 50, 100, or 200 mg/kg hydroxylated lecithin, and 100 mg/kg conventional soybean lecithin. The pen served as the experimental unit (n = 6). After 64 days, all lecithin-supplemented groups had higher final body weight and average daily gain than the control (p < 0.05), whereas 100 and 200 mg/kg hydroxylated lecithin reduced feed conversion ratio (p < 0.05). After false-discovery-rate adjustment within prespecified outcome families, robust treatment effects remained for selected serum indices, leg-muscle shear force, muscle-fibre morphology, inosine monophosphate, several flavour-associated amino acids, selected fatty acid outcomes, and tissue-specific expression of the candidate genes (q < 0.05). Nominal differences in intramuscular fat, carcass traits, body measurements, and several individual fatty acids did not withstand adjustment and were treated as exploratory. The equal-dose comparison did not show a consistent advantage over conventional soybean lecithin. Overall, hydroxylated lecithin elicited endpoint- and dose-dependent responses, but their commercial relevance and underlying mechanisms require confirmation.