Influence of housing type on the cecal environment of horses.
Abstract: 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 individually fed a pelleted concentrate at 1% BW (as fed) offered twice daily 12 h apart. All horses had ad libitum access to coastal bermudagrass hay (). Hay was offered to stalled horses initially at 2% BW (as fed) and then adjusted based on 120% of a previous 3-d average of voluntary intake. A dual marker system was used to estimate forage consumption in all horses, using titanium dioxide (TiO) as the external marker and acid detergent insoluble ash (ADIA) as the internal marker. TiO was offered at 10 g/d for 10 d with fecal samples collected on the final 4 d at 12-h intervals advancing by 3 h each day to account for diurnal variation. Cecal samples were collected on day 28, 4 h after the morning meal and immediately analyzed for pH, total anaerobic and lactic acid bacteria populations, methane and ammonia concentrations, as well as volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentrations. Data were analyzed using the PROC GLM procedure of SAS with the model containing effects for horse, period, and treatment. Cecal pH was affected by housing ( = 0.02) with group-housed horses having lower cecal pH values compared with stalled horses (6.52 vs. 6.69, respectively). There was no influence of housing on populations of total anaerobic or lactic acid bacteria. Furthermore, housing did not influence cecal concentrations of VFA or methane and ammonia concentrations. Estimates of voluntary forage DMI were greater for group-housed horses ( = 0.04) than stalled (8.47 and 5.17 ± 0.89 kg DM/d, respectively). In conclusion, confinement housing did not, with the exception of pH, alter cecal environment of a horse when similar diets were offered but did affect forage consumption.
© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Society of Animal Science.
Publication Date: 2019-04-24 PubMed ID: 32704852PubMed Central: PMC7200855DOI: 10.1093/tas/txz030Google Scholar: Lookup
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Summary
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The research presents a study on the impact of different housing types on the cecal environment of horses, focussing on elements like cecal pH, methane and ammonia concentrations, and the dry matter intake. The research found that group housing versus solitary stalls alters the cecal pH and the forage consumption, but not other factors like concentrations of volatile fatty acids, methane, and ammonia.
Study Design and Methodology
- The study was designed as a crossover trial and used eight cecally cannulated Quarter Horse geldings. This design allowed each horse to be switched between the two treatment types, or housing arrangements.
- The study comprised two 28-day periods, with a 21-day washout period in between to eliminate the effects of the first period before starting the second.
- Dry Matter Intake (DMI) was determined from day 20 to 24, while cecal fluid was collected on day 28. This was done to measure how diet and housing from day 1 to 19 affected the cecal environment of the horses.
- The two housing arrangements for horses were either individual stalls or group pens.
- All horses had ad libitum access to coastal bermudagrass hay, with hay for the stalled horses initially offered at 2% of Body Weight(BW) and then adjusted based on a previous 3-day average of voluntary intake.
- A dual marker system using titanium dioxide (TiO) and acid detergent insoluble ash (ADIA) was used to estimate forage consumption.
Results and Findings
- The horses’ housing significantly affected the cecal pH. Group-housed horses showed a lower cecal pH compared to individually stalled horses.
- However, the housing condition had no influence on the populations of total anaerobic or lactic acid bacteria.
- The concentrations of Volatile Fatty Acids (VFA), methane, and ammonia in the cecal environment were not affected by the type of housing.
- Voluntary forage DMI estimates were higher for group-housed horses than stalled horses, indicating that the group housing influenced not the cecal environment but forage consumption.
Conclusions
- The study concluded that stall confinement did not significantly alter most aspects of the horse’s cecal environment when similar diets were offered.
- However, it did have an effect on the pH levels of the cecal environment and forage consumption, with group-housed horses having lower pH and greater forage DMI than stall-confined horses.
Cite This Article
APA
Wolford AN, Coverdale JA, Leatherwood JL, Pinchak WE, Anderson RC, Wickersham TA.
(2019).
Influence of housing type on the cecal environment of horses.
Transl Anim Sci, 3(2), 877-884.
https://doi.org/10.1093/tas/txz030 Publication
Researcher Affiliations
- Department of Animal Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX.
- Department of Animal Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX.
- Department of Animal Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX.
- Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center, Vernon, TX.
- USDA, ARS, Southern Plains Agricultural Research Center, Food and Feed Safety Research Unit, College Station, TX.
- Department of Animal Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX.
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