Abstract
This study aimed to better understand the development patterns of breast muscle and glycogen reserves in goslings during pre- and post-hatching periods. The timepoints for sampling were embryonic days 23 and 27 of hatching and days 1, 4, and 7 post hatching. We found that the body weight of goslings increased with age. The small intestine developed with age and remained reasonably constant on day 4 post hatching. The breast muscle development decreased with age and stayed relatively stable on day 1 post hatching. The diameter of myofiber increased prior to hatching and then decreased while hatching. The development patterns of breast muscle glycogen reserves were similar to the diameter of myofiber. In contrast, the contents of liver glycogen began to decrease before hatching and then increased rapidly after hatching. Moreover, the expression of Myf-5 increased with age. The expression of MSTN was maintained at high levels prior to hatching, dropped immediately after hatching, and then gradually increased with age. Additionally, we also observed that the glycogen content in the breast muscle was positively correlated with the diameter of the myofiber. The liver glycogen content was positively correlated to the relative weight of the breast muscle, the diameter of the myofiber, and the breast muscle glycogen content. The development pattern of the myofiber was synchronized with the change in the MSTN/Myf-5 ratio. This study provided a profile to understand the development patterns of breast muscle, glycogen reserves, and myogenic gene expression in goslings, which was beneficial to understanding the characteristics of energy reserves during the early life of goslings.