Correlations between body measurements and tissue composition of oat-fattened White Kołuda® geese at 17 weeks of age

Abstract

1. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the yield and tissue composition of carcases from White Kołuda® ganders (males) and geese (females), and to determine the relationships between body measurements and carcase tissue composition.

2. The experiment was carried out on 200 geese (100 males and 100 females) reared to 14 weeks of age and then fed with oats for the next 3 weeks. Live body weight and body dimensions, slaughter yield, weight and percentage of muscles and skin with fat in carcase were measured and correlation coefficients were calculated between body measurements and slaughter values and carcase tissue composition.

3. White Kołuda® geese reared to 17 weeks of age were characterised by high body weight (6705 g) and good muscle yield (29·9%). Males had greater body weight, musculature and fatness than females. Sternum length and breast circumference, width and depth were good indicators of carcase muscle weight in 17-week-old geese.

4. Negative coefficients of correlation between sternum length and weight of skin with subcutaneous fat indicate that increased selection pressure in pedigree flocks of geese on sternum length should be paralleled by reduced carcase fatness in these birds.

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Grażyna and Marek Sembereccy, the owners of the goose farm, for providing the proper conditions which allowed the experiments to be carried out.