Effect of dental correction on voluntary hay intake, apparent digestibility of feed and faecal particle size in horse.

The research article is about a study conducted to understand the impact of dental correction in horses on voluntary hay intake, apparent digestibility of feed, and fecal particle size.

Experiments and Methodology

The study involved two experiments conducted on nine adult Warmblood horses that showed mild to moderate dental issues, but no discomfort while chewing. The first experiment examined the voluntary hay intake before and after dental correction. The second one evaluated the digestibility of feed and the size of fecal particles, with 3 days of total fecal collection both pre and post dental correction. Both the experiments included a 3-day adaptation period and maintained a steady diet of hay and a mix of oats, barley, and maize for each horse pre and post dental treatment.

Findings on Hay Intake

• The study discovered that the voluntary hay intake varied between 11 to 22g DM/kg BW per day in individual horses.
• Interestingly, there was no change in hay intake before and after the dental treatment.

Findings on Digestibility of Feed

• The apparent digestibility of dry matter (DM), energy, crude fibre, and nitrogen-free extract (Nfe) showed a significant increase after the horses underwent dental correction.
• For instance, the energy digestibility saw an increase from 46.8% (before dental correction) to 51.5% (after dental treatment).
• The improvement in digestion appeared more prominent in horses consuming larger quantities of grain.
• No correlation was observed between the severity or the type of dental alterations and the increased digestibility of feed.

Findings on Fecal Particle Size

The dental correction did not appear to have any impact on the size of the horses’ fecal particles. This discovery indicates that the dental correction does not alter the overall process of digestion in terms of how the horses chew and process the hay and grains in their diet.