Organic matter digestibility in horses and its prediction.

Abstract

Organic matter (OM) digestibility of 53 feeds was estimated in horses, sheep and in vitro using rumen fluid. Feeds tested were: roughages (grass hay, fresh grass, wilted grass silage, forage maize and artificially dried roughage), compound feeds and compound feed ingredients including cereals. Technical merits of the chosen procedure for digestibility trials with horses are discussed. Horse digestibility data for forages were consistently lower than sheep data, with a variable fibre level effect. For compound feeds and compound feed ingredients horse digestibility was about comparable to sheep digestibility allowing for considerable differences between feeds. In vitro digestibility gave a reliable estimation of OM digestibility in horses for the different group of feeds. (Abstract retrieved from CAB Abstracts by CABI’s permission)