The in vitro digestion of mature grass hay in the presence or absence of added nitrogen and sugar beet pulp by an equine faecal inoculum using the pressure transducer technique

Abstract

Traditionally, grass hay fed to horses is low in crude protein (CP) and is unable to meet the animal’s nitrogen requirements. This necessitates the provision of a supplemental source of additional nitrogen (N). Sugar beet pulp (SB), which contains ca. 100g CP/kg DM and has the potential to fulfil this role. Previous work has indicated that SB CP is poorly digested in the small intestine of the horse, with the majority reaching the hindgut, where it is readily degraded by the microflora (Moore-Colyer, 2000). This experiment sought to determine the effect of added SB and or additional N on the in vitro fermentation of hay by a faecal inoculum obtained from a pony fed commercially available chopped hay.