CARCASS QUALITY AND FATTY-ACID COMPOSITION IN GROWING GEESE FED VARIOUS RATIONS

The present study was performed to investigate the effect of feeding p ractical rations based on various type of cereals and grass supplement s on body weight gain, carcasss quality and fatty acid composition of adipose tissue in growing geese. Therefore, an experiment with growing geese was performed consisting of two feeding periods. Three groups o f geese were fed rations based predominately on (I) maize, (II) barley , (III) wheat and oats. Those rations which were supplemented with soy bean meal, rapeseed meal and green meal were isonitrogenic (15.2% cru de protein in average of the two feeding periods) but had different en ergy values (ration I, 10.25; ration II, 9.60; ration III, 9.59 MJ ME/ kg, average of the two feeding periods). A fourth group was fed ration s consisting of barley, wheat and grass (period I) or barley and grass (period 2). All rations had low concentrations of crude fat. In group s I to III body weight gains of the geese followed the energetic value s of the rations. It was highest in group I, and similar in groups II and III. Geese fed the ration IV had markedly lower weight gains and a dditionally lower carcass weights, lower breast muscle percentages and higher breast muscle skin percentages than the geese fed rations I, I I and III. Other parameters of carcass quality were not influenced by the ration. The fatty acid composition of adipose tissue was character ized by high percentages of saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids, and relatively low percentages of polyunsaturated fatty acids, regard less of the ration. Between the four groups, there were only slight di fferences, and there existed no correlation between the fatty acid com position of the ration and that of adipose tissue. The reason for this is that fatty acids incorporated into tissue lipids because of the lo w fat concentrations of the rations derive mainly from de-novo synthes is from carbohydrates.