Date Available
8-6-2014
Year of Publication
2014
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Document Type
Master's Thesis
College
Agriculture, Food and Environment
Department/School/Program
Animal and Food Sciences
First Advisor
Dr. Laurie Lawrence
Abstract
Horses consume large amounts of fiber in their diet, which may affect digestibility and digesta rate of passage. The objective of these studies was to assess the effects of diet composition on digestibility and rate of passage in horses using mathematical models. Using previously published data, forage dry matter digestibility (DMD) was related to forage neutral detergent fiber (NDF) concentrations and crude protein (CP) concentrations (DMD = 66.1178 – 0.3410*NDF + 0.6356*CP, DM basis; P < 0.001). In a second experiment, horses were fed diets formulated to have high fiber (HF, n= 3; NDF = 55.3%, CP = 11.8%) or low fiber (LF, n = 3; NDF = 40.5%, CP = 13.3%) concentrations. The LF treatment had greater DM, organic matter, and gross energy digestibilities (P < 0.05), whereas the HF treatment had greater NDF digestibility (P < 0.05). Mathematical models were useful to determine mean retention time (MRT) and there were no differences between model MRT and algebraic MRT, or treatment. Some compartmental parameters were different between treatments (P < 0.05), indicating that dietary fiber may alter some components of digesta passage in horses.
Recommended Citation
Hansen, Tayler L., "Modeling Digestibility and Rate of Passage in Horses" (2014). Theses and Dissertations--Animal and Food Sciences. 37.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/animalsci_etds/37