Effects of different dietary metabolizable energy and crude protein levels on nutrient digestibility and growth performance in Hepu geese.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of different dietary metabolizable energy (ME) and crude protein (CP) levels on the digestibility of dry matter, CP, ether extract, crude fiber, calcium, phosphorus and growth per- formance in Hepu geese at 28 days of age. Two feeding and digestion trials were conducted with 120 Hepu geese; three diets with the same CP level (15.10%) and different ME levels (10.03, 11.00 and 11.85 MJ/kg) were fed to the geese in trial 1, the other three diets with the same ME level (11.50 MJ/kg) and different CP levels (12.50%, 14.85% and 17.83%) were fed to the geese in trial 2; 4 mol/L HCl acid insoluble ash method was used for determination of nutrient digestibility. Re- sults showed that the diet with 10.03 MJ/kg ME and 15.10% CP got good nutrient digestibility, and no significant difference of performance was found among different ME levels (P0.05); the diet with 12.50% CP and 11.50 MJ/kg ME also got good nutrient digestibility, and no significant difference of performance was found among different CP levels (P0.05). Therefore, good nutrient digestibility was obtained in both of the diet with 15.10% CP and 10.03 MJ/kg ME or the diet with 12.50% CP and 11.50 MJ/kg ME, and there was no difference in growth performance of Hepu geese after 28 days of age.