Passage rate of digesta through the equine gastrointestinal tract: A review

Weyenberg, Stéphanie Van; Sales, J.; Janssens, Geert

doi:10.1016/j.livprodsci.2005.04.008

Cited by 120 publications

(104 citation statements)

References 39 publications

(71 reference statements)

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“…Many factors influence the passage rate (van Weyenberg et al, 2006), and diet had an effect on TMRT in the present study with the HAY and SBP diets having a~5 h shorter TMRT than the BAR + SBP and BAR diets. The TMRT of the two barley diets were in accordance with previous studies Rosenfeld et al, 2006).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 48%

The effect of dietary carbohydrate composition on apparent total tract digestibility, feed mean retention time, nitrogen and water balance in horses

Jensen

Austbø

Knudsen

et al. 2014

Animal

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A total of four diets with different carbohydrate composition were investigated in a 4 × 4 Latin square design experiment with four Norwegian Coldblooded trotter horses. The objective of the present study was to increase the fermentable fibre content and reduce the starch intake of the total ration obtained by partly substituting mature hay and barley with sugar beet pulp (SBP), a soluble fibre source. The diets investigated were hay only (HAY), hay (85% of dry matter intake (DMI)) and molassed SBP (15% of DMI) (SBP), hay (68% of DMI) and barley (32% of DMI) (BAR), and hay (68% of DMI), barley (26% of DMI) and SBP (6% of DMI) (BAR + SBP). The feeding level was 18.5, 17.3, 15.7 and 15.7 g DM/kg BW per day for the HAY, SBP, BAR and BAR + SBP diets, respectively. Each diet was fed for 18 days followed by 10 days of data collection, where apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD), total mean retention time (TMRT) of ytterbium-labelled hay, water balance, digestible energy (DE) intake and nitrogen balance were measured. An enzymatic chemical dietary fibre (DF) method was used to get detailed information on the composition and ATTD of the fibre fraction. Inclusion of SBP in the diet increased the ATTD of the constituent sugars galactose and arabinose ( P < 0.01). Feeding the HAY and SBP diets resulted in a lower TMRT owing to a higher DF intake than the BAR and BAR + SBP diets ( P < 0.01). There was no difference in water intake between HAY and SBP, but faecal dry matter was lower for HAY than the other diets ( P = 0.017), indicating that water was more tightly bound to fibre in the HAY diet. The diets were iso-energetic and provided enough DE and protein for light to moderate exercise for a 550 kg horse. In conclusion, this study showed that the DF intake had a larger effect on TMRT than partly substituting hay or barley with SBP, and that highly fermentable pectin-rich soluble DF from SBP maintains high nutrient utilization in horses.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 48%

The effect of dietary carbohydrate composition on apparent total tract digestibility, feed mean retention time, nitrogen and water balance in horses

Jensen

Austbø

Knudsen

et al. 2014

Animal

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“…Nevertheless, enzymatic digestion of digestible components of the cellular content of feedstuffs is very efficient in the small intestine compared to the low digestion of cell wall components (Van Weyenberg et al, 2006).…”

Section: Small Intestinementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The first appearance of digesta in the cecum is approximately 30 to 45 min after leaving the stomach; within 3 h after feed consumption, most of the digesta reaches the cecum and ventral colon (Van Weyenberg et al, 2006). The cecum is a blind sac, highly sacculated.…”

Section: Anatomical and Morphological Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At the top of the cecum, the ileo-cecal and the ceco-colic junctions are situated in relatively close proximity to each other, one through which digesta enters from the ileum and the other through which passage from the cecum to the RVC is facilitated ( Figure 1). The cecum starts to contract 12 to 15 cm after the ceco-colic junction traps digesta in the cecal base and forces some through the valve to the RVC (Van Weyenberg et al, 2006). From the RVC, digesta passes to the left ventral colon (LVC); the ventral colon (RVC and LVC) is voluminous, with a diameter up to 25 to 30 cm, while the transition between the LVC and the left dorsal colon (LDC) is narrow, also called the pelvic flexure.…”

Section: Anatomical and Morphological Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…From the RVC, digesta passes to the left ventral colon (LVC); the ventral colon (RVC and LVC) is voluminous, with a diameter up to 25 to 30 cm, while the transition between the LVC and the left dorsal colon (LDC) is narrow, also called the pelvic flexure. This anatomic morphology is responsible for a selective retention of coarse particles (1 cm or more) in the cecum and ventral colon, meaning that in these compartments coarse particles are retained and liquid and fine particles move on to the LDC and right dorsal colon (RDC; Drogoul et al, 2000;Van Weyenberg et al, 2006; Figure 1). The diameters of these portions of the colon are large, and there are no sacculations in these portions of the dorsal colon.…”

Section: Anatomical and Morphological Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Understanding the equine cecum-colon ecosystem: current knowledge and future perspectives

Santos¹,

Rodrigues²,

Bessa³

et al. 2011

Animal

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Having evolved as a grazing animal, a horse's digestive physiology is characterized by rapid gastric transit, a rapid but intense enzymatic digestion along the small intestine, and a long and intense microbial fermentation in the large intestine. The process of understanding and describing feed degradation mechanisms in the equine digestive system in general, and in the hindgut ecosystem in particular, is essential. Regardless of its importance for the nutritional status of the host, the significance of the cecum-colon ecosystem has not yet been fully understood, and few reports have focused deeply on the contribution of the hindgut microbial population to the nitrogen and energy requirements of the horse. Compared to ruminal activity, very little is known about hindgut ecosystem activity in the horse. Information concerning the metabolism of this microbial population and its requirements is lacking. The use of internal bacterial markers for quantifying microbial outflow in ruminants is widely reported. These techniques can be applied to cecum-colon microbial quantification, contributing to a better characterization of this ecosystem. It is likely wrong to believe that the optimization strategy in the hindgut is similar to what happens in the rumen -that is, to maximize microbial growth and, therefore, fermentation. If we consider the type of substrate that, in normal conditions, arrives in the hindgut, we can expect it to be nitrogen limiting, providing limited nitrogen-based substrates for microbial fermentation. In this review paper, we intend to gather existing information on the equine ecosystem and to provide future perspectives of research.Keywords: horse, cecum, colon, digestive strategy ImplicationsThe process of understanding and describing degradation mechanisms in the equine digestive ecosystem in general, and in the hindgut in particular, is essential to provide information for proper feeding practices to be implemented. Regardless of its importance for the nutritional status of the host, the significance of hindgut fermentation has not yet been fully understood, and few reports have focused deeply on the contribution of the hindgut microbial population to the nitrogen and energy requirements of the horse. In this review paper, we intend to gather existing information on the equine ecosystem and to provide future perspectives of research. IntroductionHorses are free-ranging herbivores of grassland environments adapted to eat large quantities of high fiber feeds (Janis, 1976;Bennett, 1980). Nowadays, with the increase of their use in sports and leisure, many horses are housed during long periods of time and fed daily on two or three meals of forages plus concentrate. The forage component of the diet is sometimes characterized by having low-tomedium energy concentration and variable levels of fiber and protein (Micol and Martin-Rosset, 1995). This pattern of feed supply is not as expected by the horse's phylogenetic adaptation to grassland environments (Janis, 1976). These management procedures have i...

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Bilateral Ovariectomy in the Mare

Ragle¹

2012

Advances in Equine Laparoscopy

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Passage rate of digesta through the equine gastrointestinal tract: A review

Cited by 120 publications

References 39 publications

The effect of dietary carbohydrate composition on apparent total tract digestibility, feed mean retention time, nitrogen and water balance in horses

The effect of dietary carbohydrate composition on apparent total tract digestibility, feed mean retention time, nitrogen and water balance in horses

Understanding the equine cecum-colon ecosystem: current knowledge and future perspectives

Bilateral Ovariectomy in the Mare

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