Blood glucose, lactate, urea, β-hydroxybutyrate, NEFA and insulin in Norwegian trotter horses fed different diets

Abstract

This experiment aimed at studying the post-prandial blood plasma response in horses fed diets of different content of soluble and insoluble fibre. Blood was drawn from the jugular vein and analysed for metabolites using an autoanalyzer and radioimmunoassay. Time affected blood metabolites concentration and diets affected blood urea and β-hydroxybutyrate concentrations (P<0.01). A strong interaction (P<0.01) between time and diet was measured for glucose and insulin. In conclusion, no diet effect on plasma glucose or NEFA was measured, which indicates that fibre based diets are sufficient in terms of energy supply for horses at medium work level. Additionally, fibre based diets were better at maintaining a stable and constant concentration of blood metabolites.