Figure 1.

Laying rate, GSI, and the histological observation and analysis of testis. (A) Daily laying rate of geese and the artificial photoperiodic programs. (B) The GSI of ganders. (C) Histological analysis of sections from ganders testes. Scale bar represents 50 μm at 20 × magnification. (D, E) The area of seminiferous tubules (mm²) and thickness of seminiferous epithelium (µm) were obtained by Image-Pro Plus 6.0 software. Consecutive letters (e.g, a, b) indicate significant differences (P < 0.05), and discrete letters (e.g, a, c) indicate highly significant differences (P < 0.01), the same as below. Abbreviation: GSI, gonadal indices.