Abstract
This research aimed to investigate the effects of drinking water temperatures on growth performance, water consumption, surface temperature, organ indices, blood parameters, and intestinal development of geese, and determine the optimal drinking water temperature for 21 to 49-d geese. A total of 192 twenty-one-day male Yuzhou white geese were allocated randomly to 4 groups with 8 replicate pens per group according to the drinking water temperature (drinking water temperature [7℃–12℃] at ambient temperature [TC], 18℃ [T1], 27℃ [T2], and 36℃ [T3], respectively). The results showed that increasing drinking water temperature did not significantly improve the BW, ADG, and ADFI of geese (P > 0.05), whereas drinking warm water of 36℃ for geese had a trend to increase FCR (0.05 < P < 0.1). Geese in group T2 drank the most water per day on average, whereas geese in group TC drank the least (P < 0.001). Geese in groups T1, T2, and T3 had higher eyes temperatures than group TC (P < 0.001). No significant differences were found on the organ indices and blood biochemical parameters (P > 0.05). Geese from group T1 had higher crypt depth and muscularis thickness of duodenum (P < 0.05), and lower ratio of villus height to crypt depth than other groups (P < 0.001). Geese from group T1 had higher activities of trypsin in duodenum and jejuna and amylase in jejuna at 49 d than other groups (P < 0.01). Overall, these data indicate drinking water at 18℃ can increase water consumption and eyes temperature, and improve the activity of digestive enzymes and promote intestinal development. Under our experimental conditions, we recommend that the optimal drinking water temperature for geese from 21 to 49 d of age is 18°C.
Key words: geese, water temperature, growth performance, surface temperature, intestinal development
INTRODUCTION
With the steady development of animal husbandry, standardized feeding pattern has been gradually realized, and animal welfare and health attract more attention. Indeed, the adverse effects of extreme ambient temperatures (cold or hot) on the growth and development of livestock and poultry should not be ignored. In a low-temperature environment, the negative effects of cold stress on animal growth, such as increased feed intake but reduced production performance (Sahin et al., 2001; Alves et al., 2012; Shit et al., 2012; Olfati et al., 2018; Zhou et al., 2021), damaged intestinal health (Liu et al., 2022), and increased mortality (Balog et al., 2003), which can cause huge economic losses to the poultry industry. Therefore, it is crucial to find suitable ways to prevent or alleviate this negative effect induced by extreme ambient temperature during the life cycle of poultry. Drinking water is essential for several physiological activities of animals and plays a crucial role in regulating body temperature, promoting digestive tract development, and maintaining the health of the urinary system (Lybrand and Kollman, 1985). However, previous research conducted in livestock have revealed that raising drinking water temperature reasonably in winter can ameliorate these negative effects of a cold environment on animals. For example, drinking warm water improved growth performance and optimized the gut microbiota in early postweaning rabbits, and decreased the risk of diarrhea during 71 to 82 d in winter (Wang et al., 2019). Providing drinking water of 30℃ to weaned piglets in cold weather reduced the abundance of harmful bacteria in the cecum and improved the apparent nutrient digestibility, which is beneficial for maintaining a healthy intestinal microenvironment performance (Zhang et al., 2020). Lactating Holstein and jersey cows drank more warm water (30℃–33℃) than room temperature water (7℃–15℃), but the increase in free water intake did not influence milk yield (Osborne et al., 2002). Unfortunately, little research is available on poultry in this area.
China is the main production area for geese, accounting for more than 94% of the world's total amount, and the development of geese breeding is crucial to the development of animal husbandry in China (Hou and Liu, 2022). In the standardized production of geese, goslings aged 1 to 14 d are often given more care and protection that provide them with appropriate ambient temperature, whereas geese older than 14 d were usually fed at room temperature. This tends to make us overlook the negative effects on them induced by the cold environment during the low-temperature season. However, no studies have been reported on moderate drinking water temperature for geese in the low-temperature season. Therefore, the main objective of the present study is to verify the hypothesis that raising drinking water temperature in winter improve the growth performance, water consumption, surface temperature, organ indices, blood parameters, and intestinal development of geese from 21 to 49 d of age. Understanding the role and importance of drinking water temperature can help to optimize the water temperature recommendations for commercially housed geese.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Housing, Animals, and Management
The experiment was approved by the Laboratory Animal Management Committee of Chongqing Academy of Animal Sciences (CAAS) and reviewed by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China (approval number 2006-398). The experiment was performed in the poultry scientific research base of the CAAS, and the geese for the experiment were provided by the geese-breeding center of the CAAS.
One hundred ninety-two 21-day-old male Yuzhou white geese with similar weight were allocated randomly to 4 groups with 8 replicates per group and 6 birds per replicate according to the different drinking water temperatures (TC, drinking water at ambient temperature, 7℃–12℃; T1, 18℃; T2, 27℃; T3, 36℃). All geese were kept in plastic-wire floored pens from a goose house with a window between every 2 pens. Each pen measured 300 cm long and 200 cm wide and was equipped with the same drip-nipple water lines with 5 nipple drinking nozzles. In addition to the control group, the pens were equipped with an automatic temperature control device with high accuracy (±0.5%) that is composed of an electric wire heating device, insulation device, circulation device, and thermostatic controller, which can adjust the drinking water temperature in real time. Foam insulation was wrapped around the water pipe to keep the water temperature relatively constant. The indoor temperature and humidity were monitored by a temperature and humidity recorder at 3 h intervals, the indoor temperature ranged from 8°C to 13.4°C, and the humidity ranged from 64% to 81%. The lighting program was 16 L (light): 8 D (dark) and geese had ad libitum access to feed and water on either side of the pens during the entire experimental period. All groups were supplied the same commercial corn-soybean meal-based diets containing 11.75 MJ metabolizable energy/kg and 162 g crude protein/kg.
Sample Collection and Analytical Determination
Growth Performance
At 49 d of age, the body weight (BW) following 12 h of fasting (water available) and the weight of the remaining feed of each pen were measured by electronic scale (YH-T1, Yingheng., Guangdong, China) with a range of 70 kg and accuracy of 1 g and recorded for the determination of average daily gain (ADG) and average daily feed intake (ADFI) of geese for 21 to 49 d. Feed conversion rate (FCR) was obtained by calculating the ratio of feed intake to body weight gain.
Water Consumption
The water consumption of geese in each group during this test was determined by providing each pen with a high-precision flowmeter connected to the water supply system. The water consumption was obtained by calculating the difference value of the flowmeters before and after the experimental period.
Body Surface Temperature
At 49 d, 2 healthy geese of each pen were randomly selected for determination of body surface temperature (head, eyes, underwings, feet, and abdomen) with an infrared thermal imager (TiS60+, Fluke., WA), with a temperature range of −20℃ to 550℃ and resolution of 0.08℃. The maximum temperature in the specific area of each site was collected.
Blood Parameters
Blood samples from 2 geese per replicate with a weight close to the average weight of the replicate were collected from the wing vein into an anticoagulant vacuum tube at the end of the feeding trial for the determination of blood parameters. The activity of alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, creatine kinase, lactic dehydrogenase, and the concentration of total protein, albumin, globulin, urea, creatinine, total cholesterol, triglycerides, and glucose were determined by the automatic biochemical analyzer (AU680, Beckman Coulter., Tokyo, Japan) with corresponding commercial kits (Nanjing Jiancheng Bioengineering Institute, Nanjing, China) following the manufacturer's guides.
Organ Index
At 49 d, a total of 32 healthy geese close to the average body weight of each pen (8 geese per treatment) were randomly selected, slaughtered, and the entire intestinal tract was quickly excised for collection of the intestinal mucosa and section samples. The organs including the heart, liver, spleen, bursa of Fabricius, gizzard, and proventriculus-gizzard were separated from all connective tissue and fat. The proventriculus-gizzard was dissected, rinsed with water to remove the contents, and wiped dry. The weight of all organs was measured by electronic scale (YH-T1, Yingheng., Guangdong, China). The organ index was obtained by calculating the ratio of organ weight to the corresponding body weight of the goose.
Intestinal Morphology
About 1 cm sections from the midsection of the duodenum and ileum tissues from each goose were separated, rinsed with 0.1 M phosphate-buffered saline to remove the gut contents, and immediately fixed with 10% formaldehyde phosphate buffer. The sections were dehydrated with graded ethanol (xylene) series, and then embedded in paraffin. Then, 5-μm-thick transected paraffin sections were made and mounted on slides, and stained with hematoxylin and eosin, and viewed under a digital camera microscope (BA210 Digital, Motic China Group Co., Ltd., Xiamen, China) and morphological images were collected. The villus height, crypt depth, and muscularis thickness were measured from these images and analyzed using the Motic Advanced 3.2 digital image analysis system. The ratio of villus height to crypt depth was calculated by dividing the villus height by the crypt depth.
Digestive Enzyme Activity
The mucosa of duodenum and jejunum from geese was gently scraped with a slide and carefully collected in 1.5 mL sterile tubes, frozen in liquid nitrogen, and then stored at −80℃. The activities of amylase, lipase and trypsin in the mucosa of the duodenum and jejunum were measured with detection kits of Nanjing Jiancheng Bioengineering Institute following the manufacturer's guides.
Statistical Analysis
All data calculations as averages and standard error of the mean (SEM) were performed in Microsoft Excel 2016. Statistical analyses were carried out using analysis of one-way variance (ANOVA) in Software SPSS 20.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL) including Bartlett's test for homogeneity of variances analysis and LSD's test for differences between means. All statements of differences were based on a significance level of P < 0.05.
RESULTS
Growth Performance, Water Consumption, and Body Surface Temperature
The effects of drinking water temperature on the growth performance of male White Yuzhou geese for 21 to 49 d are shown in Table 1. Different drinking water temperatures of geese did not significantly affect growth performance including BW, ADG, and ADFI for 21 to 49 d (P > 0.05), whereas the FCR from group T3 had an increasing trend compared with other groups (0.05 < P < 0.1). Among all groups, group T1 had the highest BW on d 49, and ADG for 21 to 49 d (P > 0.05).
Table 1.
Effect of drinking water temperature on growth performance of geese from 21 to 49 d of age.1
| Items | Treatment |
SEM | P-value | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TC | T1 | T2 | T3 | |||
| 21-day-old body weight (g) | 787.29 | 788.43 | 785.94 | 788.12 | 0.84 | 0.746 |
| 49-day-old body weight (g) | 3045.92 | 3141.13 | 3058.92 | 3064.75 | 16.44 | 0.16 |
| Average daily gain (g) | 80.67 | 84.02 | 81.18 | 81.31 | 0.59 | 0.172 |
| Average daily feed intake (g) | 221.72 | 230.95 | 226.83 | 231.63 | 2.03 | 0.292 |
| FCR (g/g) | 2.75 | 2.75 | 2.80 | 2.85 | 0.02 | 0.088 |
TC = drinking water temperature at ambient temperature (7℃–12℃), T1, T2, T3 = 18, 27, 36℃.
Each value represents the mean of 8 replicates.
Table 2 shows the average water consumption from 4 groups during different periods of 1 day for 21 to 49 d. Overall, raising drinking water temperature of geese significantly increased water consumption of geese (P < 0.001). Compared with other groups, geese from group T2 consumed more water in each period (0:00–6:00, 6:00–12:00, 12:00–18:00, 18:00–24:00, and 0:00–24:00) (P < 0.001). Geese from group T1 and T3 consumed more water than the control group at 0:00 to 6:00, 6:00 to 12:00, 18:00 to 24:00, and 0:00 to 24:00 (P < 0.001), and similar drinking water was consumed on geese between group T1 and T3.
Table 2.
Effect of drinking water temperature on water consumption of geese from 21 to 49 d of age.1
| Time | Treatment |
SEM | P-value | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TC | T1 | T2 | T3 | |||
| 0:00–6:00 (L/bird) | 0.39c | 0.51b | 0.65a | 0.52b | 0.02 | <0.001 |
| 6:00–12:00 (L/bird) | 0.39c | 0.52b | 0.73a | 0.51b | 0.03 | <0.001 |
| 12:00–18:00 (L/bird) | 0.40c | 0.46bc | 0.74a | 0.51b | 0.03 | <0.001 |
| 18:00–24:00 (L/bird) | 0.33c | 0.51b | 0.68a | 0.49b | 0.02 | <0.001 |
| 0:00–24:00 (L/bird) | 1.51c | 2.00b | 2.80a | 2.03b | 0.09 | <0.001 |
TC = drinking water temperature at ambient temperature (7℃–12℃), T1, T2, T3 = 18, 27, 36℃.
Means with different superscripts within the same row significantly (P < 0.05).
Each value represents the mean of 8 replicates.
The effects of drinking water temperature on the body surface temperature of geese at d 49 are shown in Table 3. The eye temperature of geese from groups T1 to T3 was significantly higher than that of group TC (P < 0.01), and no significant differences were found among groupT1, T2, and T3. The temperature of the underwings of geese from group T2 and T3 was significantly higher than that of group TC, and that of group T2 was significantly higher than that of group T1 (P < 0.01). However, the feet temperature of geese in groups T1 to T3 was significantly lower than that of group TC (P < 0.001), and the feet temperature of geese from group T2 was significantly lower than that of groups T1 and T3 (P < 0.001). There were no significant differences in the abdominal and head temperatures among all groups (P > 0.05).
Table 3.
Effect of drinking water temperature on the surface temperature of geese at 49 d of age.1
| Items | Treatment |
SEM | P-value | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TC | T1 | T2 | T3 | |||
| Head (℃) | 27.21 | 26.01 | 25.38 | 26.21 | 0.42 | 0.342 |
| Eyes (℃) | 31.80b | 33.20a | 34.21a | 33.98a | 0.25 | 0.001 |
| Underwings (℃) | 34.70c | 35.76bc | 37.00a | 36.80ab | 0.26 | 0.002 |
| Feet (℃) | 23.76a | 21.60b | 18.05c | 20.48b | 0.54 | <0.001 |
| Abdomen (℃) | 17.68 | 18.26 | 17.90 | 16.70 | 0.38 | 0.529 |
TC = drinking water temperature at ambient temperature (7℃–12℃), T1, T2, T3 = 18, 27, 36℃.
Means with different superscripts within the same row significantly (P < 0.05).
Each value represents the mean of 8 replicates.
Organ Index and Blood Parameters
The effects of drinking water temperature on the organ index of geese on d 49 are shown in Table 4. Different drinking water temperatures did not significantly affect organ indexes including the heart, liver, spleen, bursa of Fabricius, proventriculus-gizzard (P > 0.05).
Table 4.
Effect of drinking water temperature on organ index of geese at 49 d of age.1
| Items | Treatment |
SEM | P-value | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TC | T1 | T2 | T3 | |||
| Muscle glandular stomach (%) | 3.09 | 3.09 | 3.24 | 3.33 | 0.09 | 0.732 |
| Liver (%) | 3.23 | 3.29 | 3.33 | 3.73 | 0.09 | 0.160 |
| Heart (%) | 0.66 | 0.63 | 0.63 | 0.65 | 0.01 | 0.628 |
| Spleen (%) | 0.13 | 0.11 | 0.11 | 0.13 | 0.01 | 0.217 |
| Bursa of fabricius (%) | 0.10 | 0.09 | 0.11 | 0.09 | 0.01 | 0.447 |
TC = drinking water temperature at ambient temperature (7℃–12℃), T1, T2, T3 = 18, 27, 36℃.
Each value represents the mean of 8 replicates.
The effects of drinking water temperature on the blood parameters of geese on d 49 are shown in Table 5. There were no significant differences in the activity of alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, creatine kinase, lactic dehydrogenase, and the concentration of total protein, albumin, globulin, urea, creatinine, total cholesterol, triglycerides, and glucose among all groups (P > 0.05).
Table 5.
Effect of drinking water temperature on blood parameters of geese at 49 d of age.1
| Items | Treatment |
SEM | P-value | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TC | T1 | T2 | T3 | |||
| ALT (U/L) | 14.67 | 14.43 | 15.17 | 14.83 | 0.63 | 0.356 |
| AST (U/L) | 17.17 | 16.88 | 14.29 | 17.67 | 0.63 | 0.232 |
| TP (g/L) | 39.31 | 40.79 | 38.42 | 40.19 | 0.42 | 0.221 |
| ALB (g/L) | 19.47 | 20.40 | 19.93 | 20.60 | 0.20 | 0.180 |
| GLO (g/L) | 19.84 | 20.10 | 18.53 | 19.87 | 0.26 | 0.123 |
| BUN (mmol/L) | 0.42 | 0.45 | 0.40 | 0.46 | 0.01 | 0.113 |
| CREA (μmol/L) | 6.23 | 5.97 | 5.58 | 6.49 | 0.15 | 0.177 |
| CHOL (mmol/L) | 3.76 | 3.58 | 3.71 | 3.81 | 0.07 | 0.710 |
| TG (mmol/L) | 1.60 | 1.66 | 1.53 | 1.28 | 0.06 | 0.165 |
| GLU (mmol/L) | 12.26 | 12.40 | 12.89 | 12.84 | 0.15 | 0.367 |
| CK (U/L) | 673.33 | 689.00 | 581.33 | 711.50 | 23.53 | 0.223 |
| LDH (U/L) | 225.86 | 216.71 | 213.33 | 225.67 | 7.65 | 0.928 |
TC = drinking water temperature at ambient temperature (7℃–12℃), T1, T2, T3 = 18, 27, 36℃.
Each value represents the mean of 8 replicates.
Intestinal Morphology and Digestive Enzyme Activity
The effects of drinking water temperature on the intestinal morphology of geese are presented in Table 6. The crypt depth and muscularis thickness of the duodenum of geese in group T1 at 49 d were significantly higher than other groups (P < 0.05), and the ratio of villus height to crypt depth was significantly lower than other groups (P < 0.001). In addition, geese from group T1 had higher ileum villus height and the ratio of villus height to crypt depth than those in group T2 and T3 (P < 0.05), but there was no significant difference between group T2 and T3 or between group TC and T1 (P > 0.05). No significant differences were observed in the villus height of the duodenum, and crypt depth and muscularis thickness of the ileum (P > 0.05).
Table 6.
Effect of drinking water temperature on intestinal morphology of geese at 49 d of age.1
| Treatment |
SEM | P-value | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Items | TC | T1 | T2 | T3 | |||
| Duodenum | Villus height (μm) | 1090.26 | 1141.71 | 1082.60 | 1126.45 | 22.05 | 0.759 |
| Crypt depth (μm) | 148.41a | 127.41b | 158.59a | 152.68a | 4.20 | 0.030 | |
| Villus height/ Crypt depth | 7.35b | 8.96a | 6.83b | 7.38b | 0.20 | <0.001 | |
| Muscularis thickness (μm) | 464.94a | 364.52b | 431.47a | 437.92a | 12.63 | 0.027 | |
| Ileum | Villus height (μm) | 1127.76ab | 1168.04a | 1021.93bc | 990.10c | 23.10 | 0.014 |
| Crypt depth (μm) | 141.20 | 131.96 | 136.32 | 141.65 | 3.35 | 0.727 | |
| Villus height/crypt depth | 7.98a | 8.85a | 7.50b | 6.98b | 0.20 | 0.003 | |
| Muscularis thickness (μm) | 362.11 | 308.16 | 365.25 | 347.75 | 12.64 | 0.364 | |
TC = drinking water temperature at ambient temperature (7℃–12℃), T1, T2, T3 = 18, 27, 36℃.
Means with different superscripts within the same row significantly (P < 0.05).
Each value represents the mean of 8 replicates.
The effects of drinking water temperature on the intestinal digestive enzyme activity of geese are presented in Table 7. The activities of trypsin in duodenum and jejuna and amylase in jejuna of geese at 49 d in group T1 were significantly higher than those in other 3 groups (P < 0.01). The activity of duodenal lipase in group T2 and T3 was higher than that in group TC, and that in group T2 was higher than that in group T1 (P < 0.05). However, there were no significant differences in the activity of the duodenal amylase and jejunal lipase among 4 groups (P > 0.05).
Table 7.
Effect of drinking water temperature on intestinal digestive enzyme activity of geese at 49 d of age.1
| Treatment |
SEM | P-value | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Items | TC | T1 | T2 | T3 | |||
| Duodenum | Trypsin (U/mgprot) | 337.34b | 477.80a | 318.47b | 359.27b | 20.79 | 0.005 |
| Lipase (U/gprot) | 2.05c | 2.40bc | 3.10a | 2.85ab | 0.78 | 0.038 | |
| Amylase (U/mgprot) | 0.63 | 0.50 | 0.49 | 0.45 | 0.02 | 0.082 | |
| Ileum | Trypsin (U/mgprot) | 655.77b | 1017.41a | 495.50b | 582.48b | 51.51 | <0.001 |
| Lipase (U/gprot) | 4.62 | 4.90 | 3.84 | 4.10 | 0.31 | 0.644 | |
| Amylase (U/mgprot) | 1.90b | 2.73a | 1.41b | 1.60b | 0.14 | 0.002 | |
TC = drinking water temperature at ambient temperature (7℃–12℃), T1, T2, T3 = 18, 27, 36℃.
Means with different superscripts within the same row significantly (P < 0.05).
Each value represents the mean of 8 replicates.
DISCUSSION
The purpose of this study was to verify the hypothesis that raising drinking water temperature in winter improves the growth and intestinal development of geese.
Growth Performance, Water Consumption, and Body Surface Temperature
Regulating drinking water temperature has proved to be an effective way to ameliorate the negative effects on animals caused by extreme ambient temperature such as summer and winter (Farghly et al., 2018; Wang et al., 2019). In our study, increasing drinking water temperature did not significantly improve the growth performance of geese (BW, ADG, ADFI, and FCR), which was similar to the finding of broilers from 3 to 6 wk that drinking water temperature with 24.9°C and 16.4°C in summer had similar BW, AWG, FI, FCR (Erensoy et al., 2020). In addition, Farghly et al. (2019) found that the growth performance of Muscovy ducklings was not significantly affected by drinking cold water from 4 to 8 wk of age, but was significantly improved with the extension of drinking time. However, the BW, ADG and ADFI in group T1 were 3.15%, 4.15%, and 4.16% higher than those in group TC, respectively, and the FCR of group T3 was 1.8% to 3.6% higher than that of the other 3 groups, which indicated that drinking water temperature with 18°C in winter may have a positive effect on the growth of geese, whereas drinking superheated water (36°C) may decrease the production potential of geese. Whether the production performance of geese can be further improved with drinking time needs to be further verified through experiments.
There is a strong parallel relationship between feed and water consumption when consumed both feed and water ad libitum, so water can be used to monitor animal performance (Friend, 1971). Our data indicated significant differences in water consumption between groups at different time of day, but not in feed intake. This reveals that the relationship between feed and water consumption may not be inevitable, and may also be affected by environmental parameters, water or feed supply parameters, and other factors (Huang et al., 2022), such as drinking more water at the appropriate temperature for geese to regulate body temperature or reduce heat evaporation in winter, instead of eating more feed (Degen and Young, 1984). However, geese from groups T1 to T3 had higher water consumption than group TC, which is consistent with the finding of livestock in cold season that cows provided warm drinking water of 31.1°C had more water intake than cold water of 8.2°C (Petersen et al., 2016), and ponies provided heated water of 19°C had more water intake than cold water of 1°C (Kristula and McDonnell, 1994). In addition, our study found that during the cold season, geese preferred 27°C and followed by 36°C and 18°C, whereas postweaning calves were more likely to choose warm water (35℃) when provide drinking water of different temperatures (0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, and 35℃) (Zhang et al., 2022). Their different preferences for drinking water temperature in a cold environment may be related to the differences in the thermoregulatory functions of avian and mammalian (Schmidt and Simon, 1979).
Infrared thermal imaging technology, with the characteristics of high precision, noncontact, and noninvasion, has begun to be used in poultry production, which is conducive to improving poultry welfare and production efficiency (Cangar et al., 2008; Schreiter and Freick, 2022). Studies have found a strong positive correlation between body core temperature and facial surface temperature of broiler chickens, as recorded by infrared thermal imaging, and the temperature of eyes is relatively constant and close to rectal temperature (Giloh et al., 2012; Cao et al., 2021). In our study, the elevation of drinking water temperature significantly raised the temperature of eyes and under-wings of geese, which is similar to the finding of broilers that lower rectal temperature from 41.1°C to 40.9 by lowering the temperature of drinking water from 24.9°C to 16.4°C in a hot environment (Erensoy et al., 2020). Remarkably, the relationship between body temperature and drinking water temperature is not linear, and body temperature will remain relatively stable after reaching a certain range. This reveals that drinking superheated water for geese in winter do not regulate body temperature well and may even have adverse effects. Therefore, the drinking water temperature of geese for 21 to 49 d in winter in geese production should not exceed 27°C.
In addition, the feet temperature of geese was the highest in group TC and the lowest in the T2 group in our study. We speculated that this may be closely related to the dry-wet degree of feet, and the drier the feet, the higher the temperature. Indeed, there is a negative relationship between feet temperature and water consumption of geese. However, the temperature of feet, abdomen, and back may not be stable because of factors such as feather cover and splashing habits, which cannot truly reflect the body temperature of geese and are not recommended for use in production.
Organ Index and Blood Parameters
In this study, increasing drinking water temperature did not significantly improve the organ index (heart, liver, spleen, bursa of Fabricius, proventriculus-gizzard) of geese, which was similar to the finding of broilers from 3 to 6 wk that drinking water temperature with 24.9°C and 16.4°C in summer had similar organ index (heart, live, and gizzard) (Erensoy et al., 2020).
Drinking water temperature did not affect the blood parameters of geese, which is basically consistent with the finding of cows in cold season that drinking water treatment of heat (30°C–33°C) and cold water (7°C–15°C) had no effect on blood chemistry including total protein, urea, glucose, osmolality, and electrolytes (Osborne et al., 2002), indicating the cattle were euhydrated and clinically normal.
Intestinal Morphology and Digestive Enzyme Activity
Our study found that drinking water temperature of 18°C decreased duodenal crypt depth by 14.2% and muscularis thickness by 21.6%, and increased the ratio of villus height to crypt depth by 21.9% compared with the control group. Meanwhile, the villus height and ratio of villus height to crypt depth in the ileum of group T2 and T3 were decreased by 9.4% to 12.2% and 6% to 12.5%, respectively. This indicated that moderate increases in drinking water temperature (18°C) improved the intestinal development of geese in winter, whereas the overtop temperature (27°C and 36°C) had negative effects, which was not consistent with the finding of postweaning rabbits that the villus height and crypt depth of the intestinal mucosa increased with age, but no significant difference was observed between the warm water (35.5 ± 1°C) and cold water group (5.8 ± 2.3°C) (Wang et al., 2019). This difference may be related to the tolerance of different animals to ambient and drinking water temperature (Donkoh, 1989), such as optimal performance temperature for growing broilers range from 18°C to 24°C (Saleh et al., 2021) and 20°C to 25°C for weaned piglets (Le Dividich, 1981). Also, the variety of the composition and function of the gut microbiota related to intestinal health caused by cold or heat environments and drinking water may affect it (Worthmann et al., 2017).
Intestinal morphology and digestive enzyme activity in poultry are closely associated with digestive and absorptive capacity, which were the important factor reflecting growth performance (Deng et al., 2012; Song et al., 2018; Liu et al., 2022). However, similar results were found in the variation among intestinal digestive enzyme activity, intestinal development, and growth performance of geese. Therefore, providing geese with drinking water at a suitable temperature (18°C) in winter can positively affect the intestinal health of geese.
CONCLUSIONS
Raising drinking water temperature (18℃) appropriately in winter can increase water consumption and body surface temperature, and effectively improve the intestinal development and digestive enzyme activity of geese. Under this experimental condition, a drinking water temperature of 18℃ in winter is an optimal choice for geese from 21 to 49 d of age.
Acknowledgments
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Financial support was provided by Chongqing Scientific Research Institution Performance Incentive Project (22523J), General Project of Chongqing Natural Science Foundation (CSTB2022NSCQ-MSX1021), Chongqing Special Financial Foundation (23517C), China Agriculture Research System of MOF and MARA (CARS-42-22), and the Key R&D Project in Agriculture and Animal Husbandry of Rongchang (22545C).
Disclosures
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
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