An approach to assessment of the efficiency of dietary energy utilization by horses and ponies kept at riding schools.

The research paper explores the efficiency of dietary energy utilization in horses and ponies, specifically in riding schools, gauged through the comparison of net energy intake (NEi) and net energy requirement (NEr).

Methodology And Objective

• Attempting to find an indicator for the efficiency of dietary energy utilization, the paper examines the ratio of calculated net energy intake (NEi) to calculate the net energy requirement (NEr).
• The study was conducted on 93 horses and ponies from 10 different riding schools. The animals were presumed to have a constant body weight for this research.
• Through this approach, the researchers aimed to ascertain whether this ratio could potentially signify the efficacy of dietary energy consumption.

Findings

• The estimated NEi was found to be, on average, 14% higher than the NEr. This suggests that animals took in more energy than what was needed.
• A significant negative correlation was found between crude fibre intake and the NEi: NEr ratio. This implies that the more crude fibre an animal consumed, the less efficient its energy utilization was.
• The study also found that past research suggesting additional fat intake could lead to overestimation of the calculated energy value of the ration might be incorrect. This misestimation was believed to be due to variations in macronutrient digestibility
• However, the authors noted that the range of dietary fat concentration, observed between 32 and 52 g/kg dry matter (or 5 to 6 g/MJ net energy), was too small to significantly influence the NEi: NEr ratio, based on digestibility trials, contradicting the aforementioned suggestion.

Conclusion

• The paper concludes that evaluating the efficiency of dietary energy utilization under normal conditions, using the NEi: NEr ratio, is riddled with uncertainty.
• This highlights the need for a more reliable and universal metric to accurately measure the efficiency of dietary energy utilization in horses and ponies.