Effects of spent mushroom compost meal on growth performance and meat characteristics of grower geese

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of spent mushroom compost (SMC) meal on the growth performance and meat characteristics of geese. The SMC extracts contained 2.49 +/- 0.62 mg gallic acid equivalent/g dry weight (DW) and 1.08 +/- 0.15 mg quercetin equivalent/g DW of the total phenolic and flavonoid contents. A total of 120 White Roman geese, aged five weeks, were randomly distributed among 12 pens and fed a grower diet ad libitum during the growing period, with each pen containing five males and five females in a completely randomized design. Each treatment comprised three pens (total of 30 geese), including control (corn-soybean meal); supplementation with 5% SMC meal (5% SMC); supplementation with 10% SMC (10% SMC); and supplementation with 15% SMC (15% SMC), for eight weeks. The results revealed that the body weight of the 15% SMC group was significantly lower than that of the control group at the age of 12 weeks. There were no significant effects among the groups on feed conversion ratio or intake. The malondialdehyde content of the serum in the 15% SMC group was lower than that of the control group at week 12. There were no significant effects among the groups for blood biochemical parameters in grower geese at week 12. The color values of meats in the SMC groups were higher than those obtained with control group. The flavor and acceptability score of meats in the 5% SMC group were significantly higher than for the 15% SMC and control group. Supplementation with SMC at 5% in the diet has no adverse effects on the growth performance of grower geese. However, SMC meal at 5% in the diet favorably affects sensory attributes (meat flavor and acceptability).