Premium
Soaked‐Hay: It's Not All Sweetness – Mass Matters!
Author(s) -
McG. Argo C.,
Dugdale A.H.A.,
McGowan C.M.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
equine veterinary journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.82
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 2042-3306
pISSN - 0425-1644
DOI - 10.1111/evj.12323_18
Subject(s) - hay , forage , zoology , dry matter , horse , chemistry , body weight , weight loss , composition (language) , biology , food science , agronomy , obesity , endocrinology , paleontology , linguistics , philosophy
Reasons for performing study Soaked grass hays are recommended for the nutritional‐management of equine metabolic syndrome ( EMS ). Forage provision is commonly restricted to promote weight‐loss and insulin‐sensitivity. When EMS animals were fed hay at ∼1.25% body mass ( BM ) as daily dry matter ( DM ) (presoaking) animals lost weight at 1.1% of outset BM weekly. This doubled weight‐losses recorded when horses were fed fresh/‘un‐soaked’ hay to the same level [1]. Objectives To compare the composition and digestibility of fresh/soaked grass‐hays to improve nutritional‐guidance for the management of EMS . Study design Following 6 weeks of dietary restriction to 1.25% BM as hay‐ DM , 6/12 horses which had participated in an earlier study [2], were used to determine the digestibility of the soaked (n = 3) and fresh (n = 3) hays. Methods Samples of fresh grass‐hay (n = 6) and hay from the same batch which had been water‐soaked overnight (16 h, n = 6) or by day (7 h, n = 6) were dried for the measurement of DM content, pooled and ground. Nutrient and gross energy ( GE ) compositions were determined by proximate analyses. Animals were fed hay as 2 daily meals. Soaked‐hay was equal‐parts long/short‐soaked. Apparent digestibilities were determined after total faecal collection for 72 h. Results Soaking hay; did not alter GE (17.6 MJ /kg DM ), increased acid detergent fibre ( ADF ) (30–35%), neutral detergent fibre ( NDF ) (68–74%) and crude protein ( CP , 8.4–10.6%), decreased water soluble carbohydrate ( WSC , 18.2–12.2%), and mineral contents (5.7–4.2%). Digestibilities of GE , DM , ash, NDF and WSC were unaltered by soaking. Conversely, soaking increased CP (55.6–66.8%) and ADF (37.5–50%) digestibility. However, hay‐soaking elicits un‐quantified losses of DM . Previous studies report hay ADF and CP as ‘water‐insoluble’. When DM losses were retrospectively calculated from the ADF and CP content of fresh and soaked‐hays, daily DM provision decreased from 1.25 to 1.14%. Consequently DE decreased by 25% (119.5–89.7 kj/kg BM /day). Conclusions Dry matter losses from hay‐soaking have marked impacts on energy/nutrient provision and increase the severity of dietary restriction. Ethical animal research: The study was approved by the University of L iverpool, Veterinary Research Ethics Committee. Owners gave informed consent for their horses’ inclusion in the study. Sources of funding: Personal research account. Competing interests: None.