Body weights, carcass characteristics, fat content, and their relationships in ganders of the Selected Chinese and Synthetic strains, and Embden-sired strain crosses

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In 1986, 247 ganders of the Selected Chinese and Selected Synthetic strains, and Large Embden and Small Embden- sired strain crosses at the Greenbelt farm of the Centre for Food and Animal Research in Ottawa, Canada, were evaluated. The Chinese and Synthetic (developed from the Pilgrim, Chinese and Hungarian) strains had been selected for four generations to increase egg production over a 24-wk laying period and body weight at 16 wk of age, and simultaneously decrease total fat content. Two Embden strains, Large and Small, denoting contrasting body sizes, had been imported from the United States of America for potential use in crossbreeding as terminal sire strains. Strains and strain crosses were ranked from high to low, for body weights at 9 and 16 wk of age, liveweight at slaughter and eviscerated carcass weight. Large Embden × Selected Chinese were largest followed by Small Embden × Selected Synthetic and Small Embden × Selected Chinese strain crosses, in turn followed by the Selected Chinese and Selected Synthetic strains. Small Embden-sired crosses were not significantly different except for body weight at 9 wk of age and eviscerated carcass weight. The Large Embden × Selected Chinese strain cross had a dressing percent of 63, significantly higher than 60–61% for the remaining strains or strain crosses. In general, the ranking of strains and strain crosses for liver weight was similar to rankings for body weights, except that the Small Embden-sired crosses were not significantly different from the Selected Chinese strain, and the Small and Large Embden-sired Selected Chinese crosses had similar liver weight. The Selected Synthetic strain had a significantly smaller neck than that of the other strains and strain crosses; Small Embden-sired crosses were not significantly different. Large Embden × Selected Chinese and Small Embden × Selected Synthetic strain crosses and the Selected Chinese strain had similar neck weight. When fat was expressed as a percentage of carcass weight, the strains and strain crosses had similar proportion of abdominal fat. On the other hand the Large Embden × Selected Chinese strain cross had significantly more intestinal fat (4.83%) than any of the strains and strain crosses (2.97 to 3.73%) and a similar proportion of total fat (10.87%) to the Small Embden × Selected Chinese strain cross (8.79%) but significantly more than the remaining strains and strain crosses (7.53 to 8.20%). The correlations of body weights at 9 and 16 wk of age with eviscerated carcass weight (0.65 and 0.90), abdominal fat weight (0.32 and 0.59), intestinal fat weight (0.27 and 0.55) and total fat weight (0.23 and 0.47) were deemed potentially useful. The correlations between percentage of fat parameters and body weights were low (0.20 a n d 0.37) or negligible. The inherent potential in the large-bodied Embden strain for growth can complement the small-bodied Selected Chinese strain that excels in egg production, fertility and hatchability to produce a strain cross with considerable promise for commercial production of goose meat. Key words: Chinese strain, Synthetic strain, Embden strain, body weights, abdominal and intestinal fat