Effects of feed conditioning temperature on pellet quality, growth performance, intestinal development and blood parameters of geese from 1 to 28 days of age

A 28-day experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of feed-conditioning temperature on the pellet quality, growth performance, intestinal development, and blood parameters of geese. A total of 180 1-day-old White Yuzhou goslings were randomly allotted to five treatment groups, with six replicates containing six birds each. Five diets were conditioned at 65, 70, 75, 80 and 85°C. Body weight and feed intake per pen basis were recorded from the arrival to the end of the trial. Blood and small intestine samples were collected on day 28 for analysis. The results showed that the pellet durability index (PDI), pellet hardness, and gelatinisation degree of starch (GDS) increased with increasing conditioning temperature (P < 0.05). The final body weight (FBW), average daily gain (ADG) and average daily feed intake (ADFI) of goslings significantly increased when conditioning temperature increased from 65 or 70°C to 80 or 85°C (P < 0.05), accompanied by unaffected feed conversion ratio (FCR) (P > 0.05). The villus height to crypt depth ratio (VH/CD) in the duodenum and ileum improved with increasing conditioning temperature (P < 0.05). Additionally, trypsin and amylase activity were enhanced when the conditioning temperature increased from 65 to 85°C (P < 0.05). No significant differences in the carcass traits and blood parameters of goslings were observed among the groups (P > 0.05). Overall, under the present experimental conditions, increasing the steam-conditioning temperature of pelleted feed improved pellet quality, growth performance, intestinal morphology, and digestive enzyme activity in goslings. Based on broken-line regression analysis, the lower critical conditioning temperature for ADG in geese from 1 to 28 days of age was 80.95°C.