Goose production efficiency as influenced by genotype, nutrition and production systems

The goose is one of the most ancient of domesticated birds now bred commerc ially. Whereas the greatest concentration of the world's geese is to be fou nd in Asia, there is considerable breed diversity in Europe. Geese enterpri ses are most successful with highly productive breeds well adapted to local conditions. Economically useful traits, such as body weight, liveability, egg production, hatchability, feather formation and ability to be fed for t he production of fat livers, need to be more clearly identified. Knowledge of the genetic differences between and within breeds in reproductive or pro duction traits and of the heritability values of these traits are essential if the artificial selection of geese is to be successful. In the commercia l crossing of breeds it is customary and preferable to use dam and male str ains selected for reproductive and meat traits, respectively. Implementing modern DNA techniques would facilitate the detection of quantitative trait loci (QTL) and the introduction of marker-assisted selection. Progress with and results from other avian species would help to compensate for the curr ent lack of specific markers and other molecular tools in geese. An importa nt feature of geese is their ability to consume green forages and other che ap components of crops and to maintain productivity on diets with low prote in contents; they are also frequently able to make effective use of novel l ocal feed resources. Geese are at present usually raised on deep litter, on free range, in cages or on slats, using short days, diminishing light inte nsity or fluorescent light, and over one or two cycles of lay. To improve t he efficiency of production of geese their biological and economic features need to be more actively studied. There is an urgent need to integrate gen etic, nutritional, reproductive and management information and approaches s o that present production systems can be adjusted and the genetic potential of geese more fully realised.