Determination and comparison of digestion kinetics of two fibre sources in geese (Anseris)

The aim of this study was to determine and compare the digestion kinetics of two fibre sources (lucerne, maize stalk) in different segments of the digestive tract of geese. Sixty Jilin nongan white geese were divided into two groups and fed with a lucerne or maize stalk diet. After 30 days of feeding, all of the geese were fed with Co-EDTA as the marker of liquid digesta, and n-alkane was used as an internal marker. At 1.0 h, 2.0 h, 3.0 h, 4.0 h and 5.0 h after Co-EDTA was fed, five geese per treatment per time period were sacrificed by cervical dislocation. Content of the glandular stomach, gizzard, duodenum, jejunum, ileum, caecum and rectum were collected for the evaluation of the parameters of digestion kinetics. The results showed that digestion kinetics of fibre in geese fed with a lucerne diet is consistent with that of a maize stalk diet. Within the digestive tract, digesta flow was the highest in the jejunum, and the slowest in the gizzard. Mean retention time of the digesta was the longest in the gizzard and duodenum. The digestibility of NDF, ADF and HC was the highest in duodenum, gizzard and duodenum and caecum respectively. Collectively, these findings suggest that the gizzard and duodenum might play important roles in the digestion of crude fibre in geese.