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The in situ degradation of four concentrate feeds in the caecum of ponies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 November 2021

G J Stefansdottir
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh, Dept of Vet Clinical Studies, Easter Bush, Roslin, Midlothian EH25 9RG, UK
J J Hyslop
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh, Dept of Vet Clinical Studies, Easter Bush, Roslin, Midlothian EH25 9RG, UK
D Cuddeford
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh, Dept of Vet Clinical Studies, Easter Bush, Roslin, Midlothian EH25 9RG, UK
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Extract

The in situ technique has been used widely to assess the degradation of feeds in the rumen. However, very little information is available on the degradation of feeds in the digestive tract of equids. This experiment examines the degradation of unmolassed sugar beet pulp (USBP), hay cubes (HC), soya hulls (SH) and a 2:1 mixture of oat hulls:naked oats (OH) in the caecum of ponies.

Four caecally fistulated Welsh cross pony geldings (approx LW 250 kg) were offered ad libitum grass hay (DM: 926, CP: 69; NDF: 649) plus 30 g/h/d of a horse mineral supplement. Two incubation bags (monofilament polyester, 6.5 x 20 cm, 41 um pores, 16 mg/cm2 sample size) containing either USBP or HC were incubated in the caecum for fixed times according to both a forward (0,3,5,16,8,24,48) and reverse (48,24,8,16,5,3,0) incubation sequence.

Type
Horses, Camels & Dogs
Copyright
Copyright © The British Society of Animal Science 1996

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