Nutritive value and quality of silages for horses. | Hobuste silo toiteväärtusest ja kvaliteedist.
2012
Kaldmäe, Helgi | Rebase, Cheryl | Olt, Andres | Ots, Meelis
The basic feeds for the horse are pasture grass, hay and silage. In the Nordic countries horses are predominantly fed hay in winter. Developments in silage bailing technology have made it possible to prepare smaller portions of silage of ideal composition for the horse. While hay is usually prepared from only the first cut of grass, silage can be made from two cuts. Therefore, the preparation of silage as feed for the horse is becoming widely accepted. The aim of this study was to determine the chemical composition, nutritive value and quality of both hay and silage that horses ( n = 263 ) received. A total of ten typical silage and eight typical hay samples were collected for analysis. The nutrient content of the silage was higher compared to the hay (P < 0.05). The silage prepared for the horse contained 7.9 MJ/kg metabolizable energy (0.6 MJ/kg more than hay), and 50 g/kg of digestible protein (twice as much as the hay (P < 0.01)). The silage with a dry matter content of 40–50% fermented well, but ensiling at >60% DM restricted fermentation. The dry matter content of the silage prepared from the second cut was lower compared to that of the first cut. The zearalenon concentration in the silage was a mean of 71.6 ppb, and the deoxinivalenol concentration was 35.1 ppb while in hay these were at concentrations of 90.0 ppb and 168.5 ppb respectively. Silage contained fewer analysed toxins compared to hay (P < 0.05).
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