Boosting the Economic Returns of Goose Breeding and Developing the Industry by Controlled Photoperiod for Out-of-Season Reproduction

摘要

Goose breeds throughout China stop laying eggs during the period from spring to late summer, which leads to gosling and egg prices to skyrocket in this period.To maximize economic returns, artificial photoperiodic programs were developed to induce out-of-season egg laying.For short day breeders such as the Magang and Shitou geese in Guangdong Province,egg laying was interrupted in winter by using 18 h photoperiod for 75 days.Egg laying was reinitiated by decreasing the daily photoperiod to 11 h in spring, from March to April.During summer months, geese maintained under 11 h photoperiod exhibited sound reproductive activities, as manifested by high egg laying rate, fertility and hatchability.For long day breeding Yangzhou goose, a 2-phase photoperiod program was used, which consisted of a short daily photoperiod of 11 h for 3 months starting in winter, and the long daily photoperiod of 11 h to 12h thereafter from spring onwards.Apart from using of an artificial photo-program, mechanical ventilation and water pad cooling of goose house are also required for maintaining sound reproductive performances for Yangzhou goose in Jiangsu Province, where summer can be extremely hot.Out-of-season breeding, which makes gosling production coincide with the annual price peak, has increased economic profit per goose by 3 to 6 times more than those by the conventional production.Over the years, the out-of-season goose breeding has helped farmers to expand and modernize the production, and significantly increase the profit margin of a relatively primitive geese industry.