TITLE:
Citrus Pulp in Concentrates for Horses
AUTHORS:
Roberta A. Brandi, Adriana M. O. Tribucci, Julio C. C. Balieiro, Rhonda M. Hoffman, Ives C. S. Bueno
KEYWORDS:
Carbohydrates, Citrus Pulp, Digestibility, Horses
JOURNAL NAME:
Food and Nutrition Sciences,
Vol.5 No.13,
July
17,
2014
ABSTRACT: The objective of
this study was to evaluate the inclusion of increasing levels of citrus pulp in
horse diets by investigating nutrient digestibility and the diet carbohydrate
fractions, as well as to evaluate the correlation observed between the studied
digestibility coefficients. Five adult horses were used. The horses were housed
in individual stalls and had approximate ages of 3.5 years and live weights of 492.5
± 44.5 kg. The experimental diets were formulated to meet the animals’ requirements
for maintenance, establishing a roughage-to-concentrate ratio of 60:40 with the
coast-cross hay as the roughage. The formulated concentrates contained
increasing inclusion levels of citrus pulp (0%, 7%, 14%, 21%, and 28%). No
effect of the diets was observed (p> 0.05) on the coefficients of digestibility of dry matter, organic matter,
crude protein, ether extract, nitrogen-free extract, and non-fibrous
carbohydrates; however, there was an effect (p