Antibiotic and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) have been considered as emerging environmental contaminants and possess potential crisis to global public health. However, little is known about the differences between various configurations of two-stage combinations of constructed wetlands (CWs) on antibiotics and ARG removal from wastewater. In the study, three configurations of two-stage hybrid CWs (horizontal subsurface flow-down-flow vertical subsurface flow CWs, HF-DVF; horizontal subsurface flow-up-flow vertical subsurface flow CWs, HF-UVF; down-flow vertical subsurface flow-up-flow vertical subsurface flow CWs, DVF-UVF) were operated to evaluate their ability to remove high-concentration antibiotics (tilmicosin—TMS and doxycycline—DOC), ARGs (seven tet genes and three erm genes), intI1, 16S rRNA, and nutrients from goose wastewater. The results showed that all three hybrid CWs could remove more than 98% of TMS and DOC from wastewater, without significant difference among treatments (p > 0.05). For ARGs, DVF-UVF showed significantly higher removal efficiencies of intI1, ermB, ermC, ermF, tetW, and tetG compared to HF-UVF (p < 0.05), mainly because they might remove and arrest growth of bacteria. The relatively high removal efficiencies of NH₄⁺-N, NO₃^—N, and NO₂^--N were also observed from DVF-UVF, ranging from 87% to 95% (p > 0.05), indicating that anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) might be established in the CWs. Our results demonstrate that the removal performances of antibiotics using two-stage hybrid CWs are not affected by the combined configuration, whereas the combination of DVF and UVF CWs perform better on the removal of ARGs and nutrients compared with HF-DVF and HF-UVF CWs.

To investigate the efficiency and optimum inclusion level of CA in growing geese diets on performance, plasma constituents, and intestinal health, 240 healthy female geese at the age of 28d were randomly allotted six treatment diets incorporated with 0, 0.8, 1.6, 2.4, 3.2, and 4% CA. Each treatment group consisted of five replicates and eight birds per replicate. The findings demonstrated that 3.2% CA supplementation resulted in improved growth performance (ADG, ADFI, and FBW) (p = 0.001), and geese who received CA also showed lower body fat contents (p < 0.05) than the control group. Moreover, geese from the 2.4% and 3.2% CA group had the highest plasma glutathione peroxidase and insulin-like growth factor 1 levels compared to the other groups (p < 0.05). A microbial diversity analysis of the cecum conducted by 16S rDNA sequencing revealed that 3.2% CA supplementation showed a significantly higher abundance of beneficial bacteria (Muribaculaceae, CHKCI001, Erysipelotricha-ceae_UCG_003, and UCG_009) (p < 0.05) and a lower abundance of harmful bacteria (Atopobiaceae, Streptococcus, Acinetobacter, Pseudomonas, and Alistipes) (p < 0.10). Collectively, our results revealed that dietary supplementation with 3.2% CA had several benefits on the performance and physiological health of growing geese by promoting nutrients metabolism, improving antioxidant capacity, and modulating cecum microbiota.

The goal of this study was to compare the effects of three plants (ryegrass, chicory and cress) in floating bed systems on purification of sedimentation pond wastewater (low-concentration) and biogas slurry (high-concentration) from geese farm in winter. The results showed that the floating bed with ryegrass had better removal rates on chemical oxygen demand (COD), total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) of low-concentration wastewater than other groups at 60 days (P<0.05), and the removal rates were 53.0%, 83.3% and 61.1% respectively. At 90 days, cress has the best performance on removing 5- day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) and turbidity (P<0.05), with a removal rate of 82.9% and 80.8%. The removal rates of BOD5, COD, TN and turbidity by ryegrass in highconcentration wastewater were significantly higher than other treatments (P<0.05), which were 84.0%, 70.2%, 56.2% and 82.1% respectively. However, ryegrass had better stem height, root length and plant biomass production compared with cress and chicory. In conclusion, ryegrass was an optimal floating plant for purification of geese wastewater in winter and the optimal treatment time was 60 days. The regress has strong adaption for fluctuate concentrations of pollutants and is suitable for treatment of livestock and poultry wastewater in practice.

The objective of the study was to investigate the mechanism by which dietary energy concentration regulates laying performance in geese. Eighty 558-day-old female Sichuan White geese were randomly allotted to two dietary treatments, each treatment was fed 1 of 2 experimental diets containing 10.00 (deficient) or 11.80MJ/kg metabolizable energy (sufficient) for 30 days. Laying performance, hormone concentration and gene expressions in hypothalamus-pituitary-gonadal axis were examined in geese. Birds fed the sufficient-energy diet had significantly higher average egg weight, daily laying rate, and lower feed to egg ratio than those fed the deficient-energy (p<0.05). The birds fed sufficient-energy diet had higher concentration of serum insulin like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and estradiol (E₂) than those in deficient-energy diet (p<0.05). The mRNA expression levels of GnRH in the hypothalamus, FSH in the pituitary and E₂ in the ovary of birds fed sufficient-energy diet were higher than the corresponding counterpart in deficient-energy diet (p<0.05), respectively. In conclusion, the study implied that dietary energy modifies laying possibly through regulating reproductive hormone secretion and gene expression in hypothalamus-pituitary-gonad axis in laying geese.

This study investigated the effects of dietary sweet sorghum (SW) inclusion (0%, 4%, 8%, or 12%) on the growth performance, plasma biochemistry, antioxidant capacity, intestinal morphology, and duodenal digestive enzyme activity of geese. A total of 144 male geese (28 days old) were randomly divided into four groups (36 birds/group; six replicates). Experimental diets were formulated to contain 0%, 4%, 8%, or 12% SW to replace corn. The geese’s body weight and feed intake were recorded at 49 and 70 days, with samples collected at 70 days. The results showed that as SW levels increased, the geese’s average daily gain decreased during days 28–49 (p < 0.05), while their average daily feed intake (ADFI) and feed/gain ratio (F/G) increased during days 28–70 (p < 0.05). The cost of feed decreased with increasing SW levels, but the 12% SW group exhibited a higher feed cost/kg gain than the other groups (p < 0.05). The plasma biochemical parameters, antioxidant capacity, and duodenal digestive enzyme activity did not differ among the groups (p > 0.05). Geese fed 12% SW had higher duodenal villus heights than those in the 0% group (p < 0.05), and the jejunal muscularis thickness peaked in the 4% group (p < 0.05). The ileal morphology was unaffected (p > 0.05). SW increased the ADFI and F/G but had no adverse effects on plasma biochemistry, antioxidant status, or enzyme activity. Additionally, it improved duodenal and jejunal morphology. Based on the observed growth performance, feed cost/kg gain, and intestinal morphology, 8% dietary inclusion of SW is recommended.

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary paddy rice on the performance of geese. A total of 210 28-day-old geese were randomly allotted to 5 treatment groups with 7 replicates of 6 geese each. The geese were raised for 42 days on feed with 0 (control), 30%, 40%, 50%, and 60% dietary paddy rice inclusion. The results showed that dietary paddy rice increased body weight, average daily feed intake, and average daily gain of geese (p<0.05), but did not influence feed/gain ratio (p>0.05). Increasing dietary paddy rice levels decreased the plasma total bilirubin, direct bilirubin, and indirect bilirubin content of geese (p<0.05). The percentage of carcass, half-eviscerated yield, and eviscerated yield in geese were increased as dietary paddy rice increased (p<0.05). The dietary paddy rice did not affect the breast meat quality of geese (p>0.05). In conclusion, paddy rice could increase the growth performance, and had no negative effects on plasma biochemical parameters, carcass traits, and breast meat quality of geese from 28 to 70 d of age. We showed that paddy rice can be used up to a concentration of 60% in the geese diets.