China Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine ›› 2024, Vol. 51 ›› Issue (1): 114-124.doi: 10.16431/j.cnki.1671-7236.2024.01.012

• Nutrition and Feed • Previous Articles     Next Articles

The Effects of Grazing on Chicory Grassland Under Forest on the Slaughter Performance, Egg Quality, Meat Quality, Lipid Metabolism and Immune Performance of Beijing-You Chickens

ZHANG Suhan1,2, MENG Lin2, GUO Yuxia1, ZHENG Mingli2, MAO Peichun2, TIAN Xiaoxia2   

  1. 1. College of Animal Science and Technology, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450046, China;
    2. Institute of Grassland, Flowers and Ecology, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing 100097, China
  • Received:2023-07-10 Online:2024-01-05 Published:2023-12-27

Abstract: 【Objective】 This experiment was conducted to compare the effects of grazing on chicory grassland under forest and traditional cage system on the slaughter performance, egg quality, meat quality, lipid metabolism and immune performance of Beijing-You chickens.【Method】 The 10-week-old Beijing-You hens with similar weight were randomly divided into three groups and raised for 95 days:Grazing on chicory grassland under forest group, with grazing densities of 100 hens/677 m2(T1) and 120 hens/677 m2(T2), and the traditional cage system was used as the control group (CK), the grazing groups adopted a combination of grazing and concentrate supplementation.At the end of the experiment, slaughter performance, meat and egg qualities were measured, and blood samples collected from wing vein were used for the measurement of lipid metabolism and immune performance.【Result】 Compared with the CK group, the eviscerated yield in T1 and T2 groups were significantly increased by 21.0% and 21.6% (P<0.05), breast muscle essential amino acids, breast muscle inosine monophosphate (0.05<P<0.1), yolk color and yolk weight (P<0.05) had an increasing trend.Serum lipid metabolism indexes, such as total cholesterol and triglyceride were all decreased (0.05<P<0.1).T lymphocyte conversion rate also increased numerically (0.05<P<0.1).Compared with CK group, the egg weight, yolk color and yolk weight in T1 group was increased by 25.34%, 38.3% and 53.2% (P<0.05).Compared with T2 group, the crude ash content of breast muscle, the crude protein and total amino acid contents of thigh muscle in T1 group was increased by 4.9%, 11.8% and 7.8%, respectively (P<0.05), while the crude fat content of thigh muscle decreased by 25.9% (P<0.05).And the albumen height, yolk color and weight increased by 55.5%, 27.9% and 40.6% (P<0.05).【Conclusion】 The slaughter performance, egg quality, meat quality, lipid metabolism and immune performance of Beijing-You chickens were positively affected by grazing on chicory grassland under forest, and the improvement effect of T1 group was better.

Key words: grazing on grassland under forest; Beijing-You chickens; meat and egg qualities; lipid metabolism; immune performance

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