Liu et al., 2024. Heliyon, 10(8): e29784

This study investigated the effects of partially replacing corn with elephant grass dry matter (air drass) on growth performance, serum parameters, carcass traits, and nutrient digestibility in geese. A total of 360 one-day-old Hortobágyi geese were randomly divided into three groups: control (basic diet), 12% elephant grass, and 24% elephant grass. The geese were raised for 70 days. The results showed that compared to the control, 12% elephant grass had no adverse effects on final body weight, feed/gain ratio, mortality, serum liver and kidney function markers. However, 24% elephant grass significantly reduced the final body weight ( P <0.001) and feed/gain ratio ( P =0.026) compared to the control group. Both experiment groups had decreased serum aspartate aminotransferase ( P <0.001), alanine aminotransferase ( P <0.001) , alkaline phosphatase ( P <0.001) , triglycerides ( P <0.001), and total cholesterol ( P <0.001). The addition of 12% and 24% elephant grass reduced abdominal fat ( P =0.002), but it had no significant effect on slaughter rate, half-bore rate, full-bore rate, breast muscle rate and leg muscle rate. For nutrient digestibility, 12% elephant grass improved neutral detergent fiber digestibility compared to the control group ( P =0.026). The 24% grass group had reduced Ca absorption ( P =0.020). Overall, the findings suggest that partially replacing corn with 12% elephant grass in goose diet can maintain growth performance and carcass traits.It also has no negative effect on nutrient digestibility while improving serum parameters.