Effective use of geese for sustainable management of vegetation in orchards

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This study was carried out to obtain basic information on the effective use of geese for sustainable management of vegetation in orchards. (1) Weed control: free-ranging geese tended to prefer grasses to other plants and the use of free-ranging animals for weed control in the orchard of Japanese pears was effective. (2) Meat productivity : the growth of the free-ranging geese (no supplementary feed) tended to increase gradually, and their mean BW was 2,820g at the end of the free-ranging period. (3) Egg productivity : free-ranging geese that were not provided supplementary feed in the pasture had lower egg productivity than did the geese fed with formula feed ; however, an egg production rate of approximately 24% could be achieved. These results indicated that the use of free-ranging geese for weed control in the orchard was effective.