The Effect of Hatching System and Egg Weight on Production Traits in Turkish Geese: Growth Performance, Slaughter and Meat Quality Traits

Abstract

This study was aimed to determine the effect of hatching system (house and machine) and egg weight (heavy and light) on growth performance and meat quality traits in geese. The study was carried out for 12 weeks with a total of 220 Turkish native geese. The geese were individually weighed every 2 weeks during the study, on these same weeks feed conversion ratio (FCR) was measured. Hot and cold dressed, blood, head, foot, edible internal organs (heart, liver, gizzard), abdominal fat, neck, back, breast, thigh and wing percentages were determined. Also cooking loss, drip loss, color and pH were determined as meat quality traits. There was no significant difference between the egg weight groups in terms of BW. However, the geese produced in the house hatching system showed more BW from 6 to 12 weeks of age onwards compared to the machine system. There was no significant difference between the groups in terms of FCR by 8 weeks. Both 10 and 12 weeks FCR were determined as the worst house heavy, while the best house light groups. Hot and cold carcass percentages in geese hatched from heavy were higher rates than light eggs. The percentage of wings differed significantly among geese produced from different egg weight groups. Breast meat cooking loss was found higher rates in heavy eggs than light eggs, while thigh meat cooking loss was found higher rates in the house than machine system. The results of this study show that geese hatched in the house system had more BW at the slaughter age compared to machine system geese. In addition, geese produced from heavy eggs showed a higher hot and cold dressed percentages than geese produced from light eggs.