Effect of grass hay intake on fiber digestion and digesta retention time in the hindgut of horses

Abstract

Eight Thoroughbred horses were used to examine the effects of grass hay intake on the fiber digestion and the retention time of digesta in the total gastrointestinal tract and the hindgut segments. The horses were randomly assigned to 2 groups and offered 2.0 (high intake [HI]) or 1.3 kg DM/(100 kg BW • d; low intake [LI]) of timothy hay in equal amounts every 3 h for 17 d. The digestibility and total tract mean retention time of digesta (tMRT) in the total gastrointestinal tract were measured from d 11 to d 15. To measure the mean retention time of digesta in each hindgut segment (sMRT), the horses were euthanized on d 17, after being fed a series of hay markers that were labeled with different rare earth elements. The digesta were collected from the ileum, cecum, right ventral colon (RVC), left ventral colon (LVC), left dorsal colon, right dorsal colon (RDC), and small colon (SC) to measure fiber digestibility, sMRT, VFA concentration, and fibrolytic activities. The digestibility of NDF and ADF in the total gastrointestinal tract was lower (P < 0.01) for HI than for LI. The cumulative disappearance of NDF and ADF from the ileum to the LVC attained 90% of total tract digestion regardless of hay intake. Values did not differ according to treatments in the ileum and the cecum but were lower (P < 0.01) for HI than for LI in the postcecal segments. This was caused by the smaller increase in the cumulative NDF and ADF disappearance from the cecum to the RVC for HI than for LI. The solid phase tMRT was shorter (P = 0.04) for HI than for LI. Although sMRT in the RDC and SC were shorter (P = 0.04 and P < 0.01, respectively) for HI than for LI, no differences were observed in the other hindgut segments. There was no difference between treatments in the total VFA concentration, VFA proportions, or the specific activity of carboxymethyl cellulase and xylanase in each hindgut segment. The fibrolytic activity for the cecum and RVC were greatest and decreased beyond the LVC. A clear relation between mean retention time and fiber digestion was observed in the total gastrointestinal tract, but the segments where a difference in sMRT was detected because of the intake were not the same as those with the fiber digestibility depression. Although the reduction in total tract fiber digestibility with increased feed intake was clearly shown to occur between the cecum and RVC, which were the main segments for fiber digestion, it could be explained neither by the sMRT nor by the fibrolytic activity in these segments.