title: Review: Feeding conserved forage to horses: recent advances and recommendations.
abstract: The horse is a non-ruminant herbivore adapted to eating plant-fibre or forage-based diets. Some horses are stabled for most or the majority of the day with limited or no access to fresh pasture and are fed preserved forage typically as hay or haylage and sometimes silage. This raises questions with respect to the quality and suitability of these preserved forages (considering production, nutritional content, digestibility as well as hygiene) and required quantities. Especially for performance horses, forage is often replaced with energy dense feedstuffs which can result in a reduction in the proportion of the diet that is forage based. This may adversely affect the health, welfare, behaviour and even performance of the horse. In the past 20 years a large body of research work has contributed to a better and deeper understanding of equine forage needs and the physiological and behavioural consequences if these are not met. Recent nutrient requirement systems have incorporated some, but not all, of this new knowledge into their recommendations. This review paper amalgamates recommendations based on the latest understanding in forage feeding for horses, defining forage types and preservation methods, hygienic quality, feed intake behaviour, typical nutrient composition, digestion and digestibility as well as health and performance implications. Based on this, consensual applied recommendations for feeding preserved forages are provided.
authors.affiliation: 1Equine Studies Group,WALTHAM Centre for Pet Nutrition,Leics LE14 4RT,UK.
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.affiliation: 2UNEQUI,Research Education Innovation,Southwell,Nottinghamshire,NG25 0DS,UK.
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Ellis
authors.affiliation: 3CIISA,Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária,Universidade de Lisboa,Av. Universidade Técnica,1300-477 Lisboa,Portugal.
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Fradinho
authors.affiliation: 4Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry,Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences,750 07 Uppsala,Sweden.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jansson
authors.affiliation: 5AgroSup Dijon,21079 Dijon Cedex,France.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Julliand
authors.affiliation: 6Hestedoktoren I/S,Bukkerupvej 195,4360 Kr. Eskilstrup,Denmark.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Luthersson
authors.affiliation: 7Department of Veterinary Medicine,Escola Universitária Vasco da Gama,3020-210 Coimbra,Portugal.
authors.forename: A S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.affiliation: 9Institute of Animal Nutrition, Nutrition Diseases and Dietetics, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine,University of Leipzig,An den Tierkliniken 9,D-04103 Leipzig,Germany.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Vervuert
mesh_terms: D000821:Animal Feed; D000824:Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D000818:Animals; D004032:Diet / Q000662:veterinary; D004063:Digestion; D004435:Eating; D005260:Female; D006736:Horses / Q000502:physiology*; D012820:Silage
keywords: behaviour; forage; health; hygiene; requirements