Dietary chitosan (CS) supplementation could improve the growth rate, small intestinal morphology, nutrients apparent digestibility and digestive enzyme activities in pigs, broiler chickens, rats and fish, whereas no data has been reported about the effect of CS on the growing Huoyan geese. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate the effects of CS on growth rate, small intestinal morphology, nutrients apparent utilization and digestive enzyme activities of growing Huoyan geese. Three hundred and twenty (28 days of age, gender balance) Huoyan geese were randomly divided into control, CS100, CS200 and CS400 groups (based on BW) with 20 geese per pen and 4 replicates pen per group, and the feeding experiment lasted for 4 weeks. The 4 diets contained 0, 100, 200 and 400 mg CS per kg feed, respectively. The results showed that CS200 groups had higher average daily gain, final BW, apparent utilization of DM and CP, and lower feed/gain ratio compared with the control group (P < 0.05). Meanwhile, CS100 and CS200 groups had higher villus height, villus height/crypt depth ratio and lower crypt depth in duodenum and jejunum than those in the control group (P < 0.05). The geese in CS100 and CS200 groups had higher villus height, villus height/crypt depth ratio and lower crypt depth of ileum compared with those in control and CS400 groups (P < 0.05). In addition, compared with the control group, CS200 group has higher trypsin activities and lower lipase activities in duodenal, jejunal and ileal contents (P < 0.05). The results suggested that addition of 200 mg/kg CS had positive effects on growth rate, small intestinal morphology, nutrients apparent utilization and digestive enzyme activities of growing Huoyan geese.

日粮中添加壳聚糖（CS）可提高猪、肉鸡、大鼠和鱼类的生长速度、小肠形态、营养物质表观消化率和消化酶活性，而CS对生长中的火雁鹅的影响尚未见报道。因此，本研究旨在探讨CS对生长中的火炎鹅生长速度、小肠形态、养分表观利用和消化酶活性的影响。320只（28日龄，性别平衡）火雁鹅随机分为对照、CS 100、CS 200和CS 400组（以体重计），每栏20只鹅，每组4个重复栏，饲养实验持续4周。4 种日粮每公斤饲料分别含有 0、100、200 和 400 毫克 CS。结果表明，与对照组相比，CS 200组平均日增重、最终体重、干物质和粗蛋白的表观利用量、料增比均较低（P < 0.05）。同时，CS 100和CS 200组的绒毛高度、绒毛高度/隐窝深度比值、十二指肠和空肠的隐窝深度均低于对照组（P < 0.05）。CS 100和 CS 200中的鹅与对照组和CS 400组相比，各组绒毛高度、绒毛高度/隐窝深度比和回肠隐窝深度较低（P < 0.05）。此外，与对照组相比，CS 200组十二指肠、空肠和回肠内容物胰蛋白酶活性较高，脂肪酶活性较低（P < 0.05）。结果表明，添加200 mg/kg CS对生长的火雁鹅的生长速度、小肠形态、养分表观利用和消化酶活性均有积极影响。