Effects of dietary energy source and level of feed intake on growth of weanling horses
Cymbaluk, N.F.
Equine Practice 11(9): 29-33
1989
Accession: 001817400
Weanling horses were fed on a high-concentrate (62%) pelleted diet ad libitum or a high-forage (70% lucerne) pelleted diet ad libitum or limited. The forage diet contained 17% less digestible energy (DE) than the concentrate diet (3.21 vs. 2.74 Mcal/kg). Results showed that horses fed on forage diets ad libitum compensated for the lower energy content by eating 26% more feed than those fed on the concentrate diet and that DE intake of ad libitum forage-fed horses was 35 to 46% higher than recommended by 1978 NRC and 24 to 33% above DE intake of the limit-fed group. Weight gain of ad libitum-fed horses was 31% above expected values.