Gut health in horses refers to the condition and functioning of the equine gastrointestinal system, which includes the stomach, small intestine, cecum, and colon. This system is responsible for the digestion and absorption of nutrients, as well as the maintenance of a balanced microbiome. The gut microbiome, consisting of a diverse community of microorganisms, plays a role in digestion, metabolism, and immune function. Factors such as diet, stress, medication, and environmental changes can impact gut health, potentially leading to issues like colic or laminitis. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the anatomy, physiology, and microbial ecology of the equine gut, as well as the implications for overall horse health and management practices.
Mach N, Ruet A, Clark A, Bars-Cortina D, Ramayo-Caldas Y, Crisci E, Pennarun S, Dhorne-Pollet S, Foury A, Moisan MP, Lansade L.We simultaneously measured the fecal microbiota and multiple environmental and host-related variables in a cohort of 185 healthy horses reared in similar conditions during a period of eight months. The pattern of rare bacteria varied from host to host and was largely different between two time points. Among a suite of variables examined, equitation factors were highly associated with the gut microbiota variability, evoking a relationship between gut microbiota and high levels of physical and mental stressors. Behavioral indicators that pointed toward a compromised welfare state (e.g. stereotyp...
Wambacq WA, van Doorn DA, Rovers-Paap PM, Ducatelle R, Vlaminck L, Lourenço M, Hesta M.As colic and intestinal disorders are a major concern in horses, the aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of dietary supplementation of butyrate, known to have a diverse array of beneficial effects on intestinal health. The effect of micro-encapsulated sodium butyrate supplementation on gut histology and immunohistochemistry parameters was studied in 14 healthy warmblood horses destined for slaughter in two separate periods. Horses were fed a low fiber - high starch diet, designed to induce subsequent starch overflow in the large intestine, aiming to create a mild challenge f...
Paßlack N, Vahjen W, Zentek J.Cellobiose is a disaccharide with potential prebiotic effects, as demonstrated in different animal species, but not yet in horses. It was, therefore, the aim of the present study to evaluate the impact of dietary cellobiose on the fecal microbiota of horses. Eight healthy adult horses and two ponies were included in this study. The animals received a diet without or with 10 g and 20 g cellobiose per day for 14 days each. At the end of the feeding periods, fresh fecal samples were collected to measure bacterial metabolites and the microbial composition. For the microbiota analysis, 16S rRNA ...
Iida A, Saito H, Amao A, Fujita T, Kato A, Ueda F.A nutritional supplement containing salacinol (NSS) was administered to Thoroughbred foals daily beginning 21 days after birth, and clinical signs and intestinal microbiota were analyzed. The average number of days for which foals exhibited a fever between 21 and 110 days after birth was determined. The number of days was significantly reduced, by approximately 1/3, in the NSS group compared with the control group. Furthermore, improved weight gain was observed in the NSS group compared with the control group. By analyzing the intestinal microbiota, it was determined that the ratio of Clostrid...
Edwards JE, Schennink A, Burden F, Long S, van Doorn DA, Pellikaan WF, Dijkstra J, Saccenti E, Smidt H.Compared to horses and ponies, donkeys have increased degradation of dietary fiber. The longer total mean retention time of feed in the donkey gut has been proposed to be the basis of this, because of the increased time available for feed to be acted upon by enzymes and the gut microbiota. However, differences in terms of microbial concentrations and/or community composition in the hindgut may also underpin the increased degradation of fiber in donkeys. Therefore, a study was conducted to assess if differences existed between the fecal microbiota of pony, donkey and hybrids derived from them (...
Szemplinski KL, Thompson A, Cherry N, Guay K, Smith WB, Brady J, Jones T.The objective of this study was to determine if transportation and exercise stress in horses affect the microflora populations in the equine hindgut. Four horses were subjected to three transport periods (0, 3, and 6 hours) with a 7-d rest period between each transport. Horses were fed 0.91 kg/day of Purina Impact All Stages 12% and had ad libitum access to Cynodon dactylon (Coastal Bermudagrass) hay. Fecal samples were collected before (0 hours) and after (48 hours) transport. In addition, three horses underwent a different standardized exercise test with a 7-d rest period between each ex...
Tang L, Li Y, Srivathsan A, Gao Y, Li K, Hu D, Zhang D.Captivity maybe the only choice for survival of many endangered vertebrates, and understanding its broad effects is important for animal management and conservation, including breeding endangered species for subsequent release. Extreme environmental changes during captivity may influence survival ability in the wild. Captivity decreases gut bacterial diversity in a wide range of animals. However, most studies directly compare animals living in captivity with those in the wild, and there is a lack of understanding of effects of gradient shift in lifestyle during species reintroduction based on ...
McKinney CA, Oliveira BCM, Bedenice D, Paradis MR, Mazan M, Sage S, Sanchez A, Widmer G.Fecal microbial transplantation (FMT), a treatment for certain gastrointestinal conditions associated with dysbiosis in people, is also empirically employed in horses with colitis. This study used microbiota high-throughput sequencing to compare the fecal microbial profile of healthy horses to that of geriatric microbial transplant recipients experiencing diarrhea and tested whether FMT restores microbiota diversity. To evaluate the effect of environment and donor characteristics on the intestinal microbiota, fecal samples were collected per rectum from 15 healthy young-adult (2-12 years) and ...
Su S, Zhao Y, Liu Z, Liu G, Du M, Wu J, Bai D, Li B, Bou G, Zhang X, Dugarjaviin M.The intestinal microbiota plays an important role in the health and metabolism of the host. Next-generation sequencing technology has enabled the characterization of the gut microbiota of several animal species. We analyzed the intestinal microbiota in six different parts of the gastrointestinal tracts (GITs) of five Mongolian horses by sequencing the 16S rRNA gene V3-V4 hypervariable region. All horses were kept in the natural habitat of the Inner Mongolia grassland. Significant differences were observed among the microbiota compositions of the distinct GIT regions. In addition, while the mic...
Morrison PK, Newbold CJ, Jones E, Worgan HJ, Grove-White DH, Dugdale AH, Barfoot C, Harris PA, Argo CM.Obesity is an important equine welfare issue. Whilst dietary restriction is the most effective weight-loss tool, individual animals range in their weight-loss propensity. Gastrointestinal-derived bacteria play a fundamental role in host-health and have been associated with obesity and weight-loss in other species. This study evaluated the faecal microbiome (next-generation sequencing of 16S rRNA genes) of 15 obese Welsh Mountain pony mares, in the same 11-week period across 2 years (n = 8 Year 1; n = 7 Year 2). Following a 4-week acclimation period (pre-diet phase) during which t...
Kujawa TJ, van Doorn DA, Wambacq WA, Hesta M, Pellikaan WF.The in vitro gas production technique (IVGPT) has been a valuable tool in ruminant nutrition research for decades and has more recently been used in horse nutrition studies to investigate fermentation activities of the equine hindgut though primarily using feces as inoculum. This study was conducted to evaluate the use of equine rectal content in the IVGPT system as a viable inoculum that can be considered representative of the activities throughout the equine hindgut. Additionally, the study was conducted to measure the effects on fermentation kinetics and end-product production using inoculu...
Hanafy RA, Lanjekar VB, Dhakephalkar PK, Callaghan TM, Dagar SS, Griffith GW, Elshahed MS, Youssef NH.We isolated and characterized 65 anaerobic gut fungal (AGF; Neocallimastigomycota) strains from fecal samples of five wild (W, axis deer, white-tailed deer, Boer goat, mouflon, and Nilgiri tahr), one zoo-housed (Z, zebra), and three domesticated (D, horse, sheep, and goat) herbivores in the US states of Texas (TX) and Oklahoma (OK), Wales (WA), and the Indian states of Kerala (KE) and Haryana (HA). Phylogenetic assessment using the D1-D2 regions of the large subunit (28S) rDNA and internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) identified seven monophyletic clades that are distinct from all curren...
Edwards JE, Shetty SA, van den Berg P, Burden F, van Doorn DA, Pellikaan WF, Dijkstra J, Smidt H.Equine gut microbiology studies to date have primarily focused on horses and ponies, which represent only one of the eight extant equine species. This is despite asses and mules comprising almost half of the world's domesticated equines, and donkeys being superior to horses/ponies in their ability to degrade dietary fiber. Limited attention has also been given to commensal anaerobic fungi and archaea even though anaerobic fungi are potent fiber degrading organisms, the activity of which is enhanced by methanogenic archaea. Therefore, the objective of this study was to broaden the current knowl...
Husso A, Jalanka J, Alipour MJ, Huhti P, Kareskoski M, Pessa-Morikawa T, Iivanainen A, Niku M.The establishment of the intestinal microbiota is critical for the digestive and immune systems. We studied the early development of the rectal microbiota in horse, a hindgut fermenter, from birth until 7 days of age, by qPCR and 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. To evaluate initial sources of the foal microbiota, we characterised dam fecal, vaginal and oral microbiotas. We utilised an amplicon sequence variant (ASV) pipeline to maximise resolution and reproducibility. Stringent ASV filtering based on prevalence and abundance in samples and controls purged contaminants while preserving intest...
Suagee-Bedore JK, Linden DR, Bennett-Wimbush K, Splan RK.When fed to horses, high-starch diets elevate plasma concentrations of interleukin-1β (IL-1β) as soon as 1 hour posteating. This increase in IL-β is possibly because of changes in intestinal pH that result from rapid bacterial fermentation of starches and sugars in the digestive tract. The purpose of this research was to investigate the effect of feeding 0.9 kg of grass hay 30 minutes before feeding a concentrate meal on the postprandial rise in IL-1β, compared with control horses receiving the same concentrate without hay first. Six mature geldings were used in a switchback design. Hor...
Ueda F, Iida A, Saito H, Seki S, Amao A, Yamate H.We report a study that examined the effect and safety of salacinol from Salacia reticulata extract (SRE) for the intestinal microbiota of horses. We administered SRE to healthy horses and evaluated their intestinal microbiota before and after the test period for changes in composition. Horses that received the SRE showed notable differences in intestinal microbiota composition between before and after administration, with a substantial increase in bacteria of the order Lactobacillales at the end of the test period. Moreover, the Firmicutes-to-Bacteroidetes ratio was elevated. Salacinol was adm...
Leng J, Walton G, Swann J, Darby A, La Ragione R, Proudman C.The intestinal microbiota of the horse, an animal of huge economic and social importance worldwide, is essential to the health of the animal. Understanding the intestinal ecosystem and its dynamic interaction with diet and dietary supplements currently requires the use of experimental animals, with consequent welfare and financial constraints. Here, we describe the development and assessment, using multiple analytical platforms, of a three-vessel, continuous-flow, model of the equine hindgut. After inoculation of the model with fresh horse feces, the bacterial communities established in each ...
Bulmer LS, Murray JA, Burns NM, Garber A, Wemelsfelder F, McEwan NR, Hastie PM.Gut microbiota have been associated with health, disease and behaviour in several species and are an important link in gut-brain axis communication. Diet plays a key role in affecting the composition of gut microbiota. In horses, high-starch diets alter the hindgut microbiota. High-starch diets are also associated with increased behavioural reactivity in horses. These changes in microbiota and behaviour may be associated. This study compares the faecal microbiota and behaviour of 10 naïve ponies. A cross-over design was used with experimental groups fed high-starch (HS) or high-fibre (HF) die...
Kauter A, Epping L, Semmler T, Antao EM, Kannapin D, Stoeckle SD, Gehlen H, Lübke-Becker A, Günther S, Wieler LH, Walther B.Understanding the complex interactions of microbial communities including bacteria, archaea, parasites, viruses and fungi of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) associated with states of either health or disease is still an expanding research field in both, human and veterinary medicine. GIT disorders and their consequences are among the most important diseases of domesticated Equidae, but current gaps of knowledge hinder adequate progress with respect to disease prevention and microbiome-based interventions. Current literature on enteral microbiomes mirrors a vast data and knowledge imbalance, w...
Grimm P, Combes S, Pascal G, Cauquil L, Julliand V.Starchy diets can induce hindgut dysbiosis in horses. The present study evaluated the impact of a yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and microalgae (Aurantiochytrium limacinum) supplementation on caecal, colonic and faecal microbial ecosystem and on blood inflammatory parameters of horses fed high-fibre or high-starch diets. Six fistulated geldings in a 2 × 2 Latin-square design were alternatively supplemented and received during each period 100 % hay (4 weeks) followed by a 56/44 hay/barley diet (3 weeks). Caecal, colonic and faecal samples were collected 4 h after the morning meal three times...
Lindenberg F, Krych L, Kot W, Fielden J, Frøkiær H, van Galen G, Nielsen DS, Hansen AK.Shortly after birth the mammalian gut is colonized, by a transient microbiota, highly susceptible to environment and diet, that eventually stabilizes and becomes the resident gut microbiota. In a window of opportunity during the colonization, oral tolerance is established towards resident bacteria. In this study, the development of the equine gut microbiota was investigated in ten foals from parturition until post weaning. We found great differences in the core species of the gut microbiota composition between time-matched samples on Day 7 and 20 post-partum. Between day 20 and Day 50 post-par...
Massacci FR, Clark A, Ruet A, Lansade L, Costa M, Mach N.Understanding gut microbiota similarities and differences across breeds in horses has the potential to advance approaches aimed at personalized microbial modifications, particularly those involved in improving sport athletic performance. Here, we explore whether faecal microbiota composition based on faecal 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing varies across six different sport breeds at two time points 8 months apart within a cohort of 189 healthy horses cared for under similar conditions. Lusitano horses presented the smallest and Hanoverians the greatest bacterial diversity. We found subtle bu...
Elghandour MMY, Tan ZL, Abu Hafsa SH, Adegbeye MJ, Greiner R, Ugbogu EA, Cedillo Monroy J, Salem AZM.The production of livestock and poultry faces major challenges to meet the global demand for meat and dairy products and eggs due to a steady increase in the world's population and the ban of antibiotics in animal production. This ban has forced animal nutritionists to seek for natural alternatives to antibiotics. In this context, the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has received considerable attention in the last decade. It has been reported that feed supplementation with live yeast cells improve feed efficiency, enhance feed digestibility, increase animal performance, reduce the number of path...
Lindenberg F, Krych L, Fielden J, Kot W, Frøkiær H, van Galen G, Nielsen DS, Hansen AK.Billions of bacteria inhabit the gastrointestinal tract. Immune-microbial cross talk is responsible for immunological homeostasis, and symbiotic microbial species induce regulatory immunity, which helps to control the inflammation levels. In this study we aimed to identify species within the equine intestinal microbiota with the potential to induce regulatory immunity. These could be future targets for preventing or treating low-grade chronic inflammation occurring as a result of intestinal microbial changes and disruption of the homeostasis. 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing was performed on ...
Glatter M, Borewicz K, van den Bogert B, Wensch-Dorendorf M, Bochnia M, Greef JM, Bachmann M, Smidt H, Breves G, Zeyner A.The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of natural prebiotic active compounds on the microbial composition in different regions of the equine gastrointestinal tract. Twelve adult horses (body weight [bwt] 534 ± 64.5 kg; age 14 ± 7.5 years) were randomly divided into two feeding groups. Six horses received a basal diet consisting of 1.5 kg hay/100 kg bwt x d-1 and oat grains equal to 1.19 g starch/kg bwt x d-1, supplemented with Jerusalem artichoke meal providing prebiotic fructooligosaccharides + inulin in a quantity of 0.15 g/kg bwt x d-1. The remaining horses received a p...
Li Y, Zhang K, Liu Y, Li K, Hu D, Wronski T.Large and complex intestinal microbiota communities in hosts have profound effects on digestion and metabolism. To better understand the community structure of intestinal microbiota in Przewalski's horse () under different feeding regimes, we compared bacterial diversity and composition between captive and reintroduced Przewalski's horses, using high-throughput 16S-rRNA gene sequencing for identification. Reintroduced Przewalski's horses were sampled in two Chinese nature reserves, i.e., Dunhuang Xihu Nature Reserve (DXNR; = 8) in Gansu Province and Kalamaili Nature Reserve (KNR; = 12) in Xi...
Plancade S, Clark A, Philippe C, Helbling JC, Moisan MP, Esquerré D, Le Moyec L, Robert C, Barrey E, Mach N.An integrated analysis of gut microbiota, blood biochemical and metabolome in 52 endurance horses was performed. Clustering by gut microbiota revealed the existence of two communities mainly driven by diet as host properties showed little effect. Community 1 presented lower richness and diversity, but higher dominance and rarity of species, including some pathobionts. Moreover, its microbiota composition was tightly linked to host blood metabolites related to lipid metabolism and glycolysis at basal time. Despite the lower fiber intake, community type 1 appeared more specialized to produce ace...
De La Torre U, Henderson JD, Furtado KL, Pedroja M, Elenamarie O, Mora A, Pechanec MY, Maga EA, Mienaltowski MJ.A healthy gastrointestinal (GI) tract with a properly established microbiota is necessary for a foal to develop into a healthy weanling. A foal's health can be critically impacted by aberrations in the microbiome such as with diarrhea which can cause great morbidity and mortality in foals. In this study, we hypothesized that gut establishment in the foal transitioning from a diet of milk to a diet of grain, forage, and pasture would be detectable through analyses of the fecal microbiotas. Fecal samples from 37 sets of foals and mares were collected at multiple time points ranging from birth to...
Wolford AN, Coverdale JA, Leatherwood JL, Pinchak WE, Anderson RC, Wickersham TA.Eight previously cecally cannulated Quarter Horse geldings were utilized in a crossover design with two 28-d periods with a 21-d washout period between to evaluate the influence of housing on the cecal environment and dry matter intake (DMI). Horses were adapted to diet and housing from day 1 to 19, DMI was determined from day 20 to 24, and cecal fluid was collected on day 28. Horses were paired by age and body weight (BW) and randomly assigned to treatment. Treatments consisted of housing horses individually in stalls or group housed in a pen. Regardless of treatment, all horses were individu...
Coverdale JA, Moore JA, Tyler HD, Miller-Auwerda PA.Soybean hulls have been successfully fed to ruminant animals as an economical substitute for hay. This feedstuff is a source of highly digestible fiber that does not contain starch. The purpose of this trial was to evaluate soybean hulls as a replacement fiber in horse diets. Four cecally cannulated Quarter Horse geldings, aged 6 to 10 yr and averaging 502 kg, were used in a 4 x 4 Latin square design with 21-d periods. Diets consisted of alfalfa/bromegrass hay (14.4% CP, 58.1% NDF, 39.1% ADF; DM basis) with the replacement of either 0, 25, 50, or 75% (as-fed basis) unpelleted soybean hulls (13...
Lindroth KM, Dicksved J, Pelve E, Båverud V, Müller CE.Free faecal liquid (FFL) is a condition in horses which manifests as differential defecation of solid and liquid phases of faeces. The etiology of FFL is currently unknown, but deviances in the hindgut microbiota has been suggested to be of importance. The present study aimed to compare the faecal bacterial composition of farm-matched horses with (case, n = 50) and without (control, n = 50) FFL. Samples were collected at three different occasions. The V3 and V4 regions of the 16S rRNA gene were amplified and sequenced using Illumina sequencing. Also, samples were cultivated for detecti...
Zhang Z, Wang Y, Zhu M, Wang C.The present study was conducted to evaluate the in vitro dry matter disappearance (IVDMD) and fermentation characteristics of 6 fibrous feedstuffs incubated with donkey cecal or colic microorganisms. The fibrous feeds were corn straw, wheat straw, peanut vine, peanut shell, wheat shell and wheat bran (WB), which are commonly applied in large-scale donkey farms in China. After 48 hours fermentation, the highest IVDMD occurred in WB, and the lowest occurred in peanut shell (P < .05) regardless what inoculum applied. The IVDMD was positively correlated with OM (R = 0.42, P < .01), CP (R ...
Stevens CE.The rate of digesta marker passage through the large intestine of the dog, pig, and pony correlated with the relative length and degree of sacculation of the colon. Volatile fatty acids (VFA), the end products of microbial digestion of all forms of carbohydrate, were the major anions present in large intestinal contents of all three species. Total VFA concentration was little affected by the feeding of high-versus low-fiber diets. VFA were rapidly transported across colonic mucosa of all three species. Results of comparative studies indicate that production and absorption of VFA are important ...
Perricone V, Sandrini S, Irshad N, Comi M, Lecchi C, Savoini G, Agazzi A.To support the overall health of horses, it is essential to maintain an optimal gut health (GH) status, which encompasses several physiological and functional aspects, including the balance and functionality of intestinal microbial populations and, accordingly, the effective digestion and absorption of nutrients. Numerous biotic and abiotic stressors can lead to an imbalance of GH, such as the quality of forages and the composition of diet, e.g., the inclusion of high energy-dense feeds to meet the energy requirements of performance horses. To support the digestive function and the intestinal ...
Kushugulova A, Löber U, Akpanova S, Rysbekov K, Kozhakhmetov S, Khassenbekova Z, Essex M, Nurgozhina A, Nurgaziyev M, Babenko D, Markó L....Probiotics and prebiotics are widely used for recovery of the human gut microbiome after antibiotic treatment. High antibiotic usage is especially common in children with developing microbiome. We hypothesized that dry Mare's milk, which is rich in biologically active substances without containing live bacteria, could be used as a prebiotic in promoting microbial diversity following antibiotic treatment in children. The present pilot study aims to determine the impacts of dry Mare's milk on the diversity of gut bacterial communities when administered during antibiotic treatment and throughout ...
Gerstner K, Liesegang A.Free faecal water (fluid excreted separate from normal faeces) is a common problem of unknown origin in horses. Multifactorial causes are assumed. This study assessed the effect of a commercial product (EMP) sold to help support intestinal health of horses, particularly regarding the occurrence of free faecal water. The hypothesis was that water-binding capacity and microbial activity are improved in the large intestine of horses fed EMP. EMP contained montmorillonite-bentonite, whey and extracts from hop and absinthium. Eight adult and healthy horses kept on the same diet and bedding were add...
Wootton JF, Argenzio RA.The distribution of nitrogen in ligated segments of the stomach and intestine of two groups of ponies has been examined at sacrifice 2, 4, 8, and 12 h following the final 12-h scheduled feeding of diets designed to provide either 1) ample protein, or 2) limited protein plus supplemental urea as the major nitrogen source. Concentrations and total quantities of total N, NH3, urea plus NH3, and alpha-amino N were determined, and protein N was calculated by difference. Liquid marker (PEG) distribution rate constants and N concentrations were used to calculate rates of entry and exit by digesta flo...
Weinert-Nelson JR, Biddle AS, Sampath H, Williams CA.Integrating warm-season grasses into cool-season equine grazing systems can increase pasture availability during summer months. The objective of this study was to evaluate effects of this management strategy on the fecal microbiome and relationships between fecal microbiota, forage nutrients, and metabolic responses of grazing horses. Fecal samples were collected from 8 mares after grazing cool-season pasture in spring, warm-season pasture in summer, and cool-season pasture in fall as well as after adaptation to standardized hay diets prior to spring grazing and at the end of the grazing seaso...
Ishizaka S, Matsuda A, Amagai Y, Oida K, Jang H, Ueda Y, Takai M, Tanaka A, Matsuda H.The effects of probiotics on horses are still controversial. The present study was a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled crossover study designed to evaluate the ability of probiotics to improve intestinal conditions in adult horses. Fermented probiotics were administered to 10 healthy adult geldings for 28 days. The clinical condition of the horses was monitored daily, and the blood and feces were biochemically analyzed every 14 days. In the probiotic-treated group, the concentration of carboxylic acids in the feces was increased at days 14 and 28. In contrast to the fecal pH in th...
Goodman-Davis R, Figurska M, Cywinska A.Diarrhea in foals is a problem of significant clinical and economic consequence, and there are good reasons to believe microbiota manipulation can play an important role in its management. However, given the dynamic development of the foal microbiota and its importance in health and disease, any prophylactic or therapeutic efforts to alter its composition should be evidence based. The few clinical trials of probiotic preparations conducted in foals to date show underwhelming evidence of efficacy and a demonstrated potential to aggravate rather than mitigate diarrhea. Furthermore, recent studie...
Jiménez BLM, Elghandour MMMY, Adegbeye MJ, Tirado González DN, Tirado Estrada G, Salem AZM, Pacheco EBF, Pliego AB.In the race against deadly diseases, multiple drugs have been developed as a treatment strategy in livestock. Each treatment is based on a specific mechanism to find a suitable drug. Antibiotics have become a fundamental part of the equine industry to treat bacterial diseases. These antibiotics have specific doses and side effects, and understanding each parameter allows veterinarians to avoid or limit the adverse effects of such drugs. Use of antibiotics causes microbial imbalance, decreased microbial diversity and richness in both cecal and fecal samples. Antibiotics reduced metabolites prod...
Glatter M, Borewicz K, van den Bogert B, Wensch-Dorendorf M, Bochnia M, Greef JM, Bachmann M, Smidt H, Breves G, Zeyner A.The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of natural prebiotic active compounds on the microbial composition in different regions of the equine gastrointestinal tract. Twelve adult horses (body weight [bwt] 534 ± 64.5 kg; age 14 ± 7.5 years) were randomly divided into two feeding groups. Six horses received a basal diet consisting of 1.5 kg hay/100 kg bwt x d-1 and oat grains equal to 1.19 g starch/kg bwt x d-1, supplemented with Jerusalem artichoke meal providing prebiotic fructooligosaccharides + inulin in a quantity of 0.15 g/kg bwt x d-1. The remaining horses received a p...
Moore-Colyer M, Tuthill P, Bannister I, Daniels S.Traditions and the economic advantage when producing big athletic Thoroughbred (TB) yearlings for sale encourage owners to feed high levels of cereals. Such diets can predispose gastric ulceration and developmental orthopedic diseases, impacting negatively on future careers. This study aimed to (1) determine if an all-fiber creep feed (total mixed fiber ration [TMFR] would sustain equal growth rates in TB foals versus a cereal-based stud cube (SC) and (2) compare pH and lactate produced by SC and TMFR in in vitro foregut and hindgut conditions. Eight TB foals in matched-pairs were fed SC or T...
Ayoub C, Arroyo LG, Renaud D, Weese JS, Gomez DE.The objective of this study was to compare the fecal microbiota of two healthy teaching horse herds with that of client-owned horses from the same geographic areas. The fecal microbiota of client-owned horses from Ontario Canada (n = 15) and Florida, USA (n = 11) was compared with that teaching horses from the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada (n = 10) and the University of Florida, Florida, USA (n = 15). The fecal microbiota was characterized by sequencing of bacterial DNA using the V4 hypervariable region of the 16S rRNA gene. The diversity (inverse Simpson index) of the fecal mi...
Davies ME.This research article investigates the role of colon liquor – fluid from the colon of a horse – in cultivating cellulolytic bacteria, which break down cellulose. The researchers aim to […]
McGilloway M, Manley S, Aho A, Heeringa KN, Whitacre L, Lou Y, Squires EJ, Pearson W.Equine leaky gut syndrome is characterized by gastrointestinal hyperpermeability and may be associated with adverse health effects in horses. The purpose was to evaluate the effects of a prebiotic Aspergillus oryzae product (SUPP) on stress-induced gastrointestinal hyperpermeability. Eight horses received a diet containing SUPP (0.02 g/kg BW) or an unsupplemented diet (CO) (n = 4 per group) for 28 days. On Days 0 and 28, horses were intubated with an indigestible marker of gastrointestinal permeability (iohexol). Half the horses from each feeding group underwent 60 min of transport by trailer ...
Li J, Huang X, He L, Li C, Jing H, Lin J, Ma C, Li X.This study aimed to investigate the effects of EA supplementation on body weight, nutrient digestibility, fecal microbiota, blood biochemical indices, and urolithin A metabolism in one-year-old Thoroughbred horses. A group of 18 one-year-old Thoroughbred horses, with an average weight of 339.00 ± 30.11 kg, were randomly allocated into three groups of six horses each (three males and three females). The control group (n=6) received only the basal diet, whereas test groups I (n=6) and II (n=6) were fed the basal diet supplemented with 15 mg/kg BW/d and 30 mg/kg BW/d of EA, respectively, for ...
Lan Y, Li Y, Yu G, Zhang Z, Irshad I.Accumulating studies indicated that gut microbial changes played key roles in the progression of multiple diseases, which seriously threaten the host health. Gut microbial dysbiosis is closely associated with the development of diarrhea, but gut microbial composition and variability in diarrheic horses have not been well characterized. Here, we investigated gut fungal compositions and changes in healthy and diarrheic horses using amplicon sequencing. Results indicated that the alpha and beta diversities of gut fungal community in diarrheal horses changed significantly, accompanied by distinct ...
Bush JA, Freeman DE, Kline KH, Merchen NR, Fahey GC.Addition of fat to the diet of the equine is a popular method of increasing energy density of the diet while reducing feed intake. Reducing feed intake is of interest to race horse trainers because additional feed is seen as additional weight and, therefore, a hindrance to performance. Limited information is available regarding the interactions of fat with other dietary components, particularly fiber, in the equine digestive system. The effect of dietary fat on in vitro nutrient disappearance in equine cecal fluid was studied in Exp. 1 using a split-plot design within a 2 x 2 Latin square. Two...
MacNicol JL, Renwick S, Ganobis CM, Allen-Vercoe E, Weese JS, Pearson W.The microbes that reside within the equine hindgut create a complex and dynamic ecosystem. The equine hindgut microbiota is intimately associated with health and, as such, represents an area which can be beneficially modified. Synbiotics, supplements that combine probiotic micro-organisms with prebiotic ingredients, are a potential means of influencing the hindgut microbiota to promote health and prevent disease. The objective of the current study was to evaluate the influence of an equine probiotic/prebiotic supplement on characteristics of the microbiota and metabolite production in vitro. E...
Berreta A, Kopper J.Probiotics are live microorganisms that when consumed in adequate amounts confer a health benefit to the host. The objective of this review is to critically evaluate the definition of probiotics with reference to their use as supplements in horses, research regarding quality control, and propose areas for future focus. Several studies, performed over a 19-year period, have consistently identified deficiencies when comparing actual contents to label claims. Furthermore, basic information such as expiration dates and storage instructions are often missing from the labels. Finally, the authors wi...
Williams MM, Spiess BM, Pascoe PJ, O'Grady M.OBJECTIVE: To identify any systemic effects of topical and subconjunctival administration of atropine sulfate in the horse. Animals studied Six mature grade horses were treated hourly in one eye with topical ophthalmic atropine drops for 24 h. Five horses were treated subconjunctivally in one eye with 3 mg of atropine sulfate. Procedures Pupillary light reflexes, pupil size, electrocardiographic parameters, girth measurements, intestinal motility, and clinical signs of abdominal pain were monitored. RESULTS: Alteration in auscultated gut motility and clinical signs of abdominal pain were the m...
Li Y, Liu C, Liu Q, Liu W.Ligilactobacillus equi is common in the horse intestine, alleviates the infection of Salmonella, and regulates intestinal flora. Despite this, there have been no genomic studies on this species. Here, we provide the genomic basis for adaptation to the intestinal habitat of this species. We sequenced the genome of L. equi IMAU81196, compared this with published genome information from three strains in NCBI, and analyzed genome characteristics, phylogenetic relationships, and functional genes. The mean genome size of L. equi strains was 2.08 ± 0.09 Mbp, and the mean GC content was 39.17% ± 0.1...
Loublier C, Taminiau B, Heinen J, Lecoq L, Amory H, Daube G, Cesarini C.Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) has been used empirically for decades in equine medicine to treat intestinal dysbiosis but evidence-based information is scarce. This in vitro study aimed at assessing the effect of a commonly used pre-FMT processing method on the bacterial composition and viability of the fecal filtrate. Three samples of fresh equine manure (T0) were processed identically: the initial manure was mixed with 1 L of lukewarm water and chopped using an immersion blender to obtain a mixture (T1), which was left uncovered during 30 min (T2) and percolated through a sieve to ob...
Collinet A, Grimm P, Jacotot E, Julliand V.Large intestine barrier disturbances can have serious consequences for the health of horses. The loss of mucosal integrity that leads to increased intestinal permeability may result from a local inflammatory immune response following alterations of the microbiota, known as dysbiosis. Therefore, our research aimed to identify noninvasive biomarkers for studying the intestinal permeability and the local inflammatory immune response in horses. Regarding the biomarkers used in other mammalian species, we measured the concentrations of lipopolysaccharides (LPS), reflected by 3-OH C14, C16, and C18 ...
Garber A, Hastie PM, Farci V, McGuinness D, Bulmer L, Alzahal O, Murray JMD.There is a need to develop feeding strategies to prevent the adverse effect of concentrate feeding in high-performance horses fed energy-dense diets aiming to maintain their health and welfare. The objective of this study is to determine the effect of a VistaEQ product containing 4% live yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae (S. cerevisiae), with activity 5 × 108 colony-forming unit/g and fed 2 g/pony per day, on faecal microbial populations when supplemented with high-starch and high-fibre diets using Illumina next generation sequencing of the V3-V4 region of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene. The four tr...
Elghandour MMMY, Adegbeye MJ, Barbabosa-Pilego A, Perez NR, Hernández SR, Zaragoza-Bastida A, Salem AZM.Greenhouses gas emission mitigation is a very important aspect of earth sustainability with greenhouse gasses reduction, a focus of agricultural and petrochemical industries. Methane is produced in nonruminant herbivores such as horses because they undergo hindgut fermentation. Although equine produce less methane than ruminant, increasing population of horses might increase their contribution to the present 1.2 to 1.7 Tg, estimate. Diet, feeding frequency, season, genome, and protozoa population influence methane production equine. In population, Methanomicrobiales, Methanosarcinales, Methan...
