Abstract: This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary different whole-plant corn silage levels on growth performance, slaughter performance, meat quality and serum biochemical parameters of geese. The experimental results could provide a basis for whole-plant corn silage in the application of geese. A total of 280 healthy 28-day-old Sanhua geese with similar body weight(982-985 g) were randomly divided into 4 groups with 7 replicates per group and 10 geese per replicate. The control group was fed a basal diet, the experimental groups were fed experimental diets supplied with 8%, 16%, or 24% whole-plant corn silage, the experimental period was 42 days. Recording the body weight (BW) and feed consumption of the geese at 28, 42, 56, and 70 days, and calculating the average daily gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI) and feed/gain (F/G). At 70 days of age, two geese with average body weight were selected and slaughtered to determine the slaughter performance, meat quality and serum biochemical indexes. The results showed as follows:compared with the control group, the ADG and ADFI of geese aged 28 to 42 days in the 16% experimental group were increased significantly(P<0.05); the ADFI of geese aged 42 to 56 days in the 8% experimental group was increased significantly(P<0.05); the ADG, ADFI and F/G of geese aged 56 to 70 days in the all experimental groups had no significant difference(P>0.05); the ADG of geese aged 28 to 70 days had a quadratic curve relationship with the supplemental level(P<0.05), when the ADG achieved the highest, the supplemental level was 9.01%. Compared with the control group, the BW of 70-day-old geese in the 24% experimental group was significantly reduced(P<0.05). The dressing percentage and eviscerated percentage of geese were reduced significantly in all experimental groups at 70 days of age(P<0.05). The dressing percentage of geese had a quadratic curve relationship with the supplemental level(P<0.05), when the dressing percentage achieved the lowest, the supplemental level was 14.93%. There were no significant differences in meat quality among all experimental groups at 70 days of age(P>0.05).The triglyceride content of geese in the 8% experimental group was significantly reduced at 70 days of age(P<0.05) compared with the control group. In conclusion, under the conditions of this experiment, appropriate supplemental level of whole-plant silage corn can improve the growth performance of the geese and reduce the content of triglyceride content in the serum, there is no significant impact on meat quality, but a certain negative impact on slaughter performance. According to the ADG maximum limit and dressing percentage minimum limit,it is recommended that the dietary optimal whole-plant corn silage supplement level is in the range of 9.01% to 14.93%.

Key words: corn silage, growth performance, slaughter performance, meat quality, serum biochemical parameters