Objective  To study the effects of high protein diet on growth performance, blood biochemical parameters, liver and kidney tissues of goslings at the age of 1 to 14 days, and preliminarily investigate gout pathogenesis of high protein diet.

Method  Seventy-two one-day-old geese were randomly allocated into three groups with three replicates per group and eight geese per replicate. Group A, B and C were fed with diets containing 16%, 20% and 24% crude protein, respectively.

Result  The growth performance of geese in group A were higher than those in group B and C. Total protein, albumin and globulin levels of serum increased with the increase of dietary protein level, but the differences were not significant. Serum uric acid, alanine aminotransferase, urea nitrogen, and lactate dehydrogenase levels in group C were significantly higher than those in group A and B, while total bilirubin level in group C was significantly lower than those in group A and B. The interleukin-1β, interleukin-8 and xanthine oxidase activities of liver tissues and tumor necrosis factor-α activity of kidney tissues in group C were significantly higher than those in group A and B. In group A, the liver and kidney tissues were normal. In group B, there were mild inflammatory cells in liver tissues, and the kidney tissues were normal. In group C, necrosis, edema and inflammatory infiltration of liver cells and tubular vacuolar degeneration, glomerular atrophy of kidney were observed. The geese exhibited gout symptoms in group C.

Conclusion  Under the same feeding conditions, feeding with 24% crude protein can affect growth performance, serum uric acid and other blood biochemical indexes of goslings, cause some damage to liver and kidney tissue, and produce gout symptoms, such as urate deposition in the ureter.