. 2020 Jul 2;99(10):4818–4823. doi: 10.1016/j.psj.2020.06.024

Table 2.

Effect of feeding frequency on growth performance in geese.¹

Parameter	Day	Feeding schedule				SEM	P-value
Parameter	Day	Ad libitum	3 times daily	4 times daily	5 times daily	SEM	P-value
Initial body weight (g)	28	1,116.67	1,117.50	1,116.67	1,117.50	1.53	0.996
Final body weight (g)	42	2,189.17^a	1,945.83^b	2,078.33^a	2,096.67^a	22.39	<0.001
	56	2,799.44^a,b	2,696.11^b	2,901.48^a	2,850.09^a,b	25.61	0.020
	70	3,151.30	3,156.46	3,155.83	3,214.31	27.32	0.845
Average daily gain (g)	28–41	76.61^a	59.23^b	68.69^a	70.00^a	1.60	<0.001
	42–55	43.59^b	52.19^a,b	58.80^a	53.86^a	1.66	0.004
	56–69	25.13^b	32.88^a	21.48^b	26.02^a,b	1.25	0.005
	28–69	48.44	48.57	48.55	49.94	0.66	0.850
Average daily feed intake (g)	28–41	191.73^a	155.36^c	175.42^b	176.55^b	3.22	<0.001
	42–55	186.28^b	196.81^a,b	208.55^a	207.08^a	2.67	0.003
	56–69	179.30	198.24	185.15	191.23	2.70	0.067
	28–69	193.41	193.46	196.18	201.11	2.20	0.596
Feed conversion ratio (feed/gain)	28–41	2.50	2.63	2.56	2.53	0.02	0.064
	42–55	4.34^a	3.78^a,b	3.59^b	3.86^a,b	0.09	0.019
	56–69	7.19^a,b	6.18^b	8.56^a	7.54^a,b	0.26	0.006
	28–69	4.00	3.99	4.06	4.03	0.05	0.956

^a–cIn the same row, values with different superscripted lowercase letters indicate a significant difference (P < 0.05).

Data are the mean of 6 replicates (10 birds per replicate).