THE EFFECT OF FEEDING DIFFERENT FORMS OF ALFALFA ON NUTRIENT DIGESTIBILITY AND VOLUNTARY INTAKE IN HORSES

Studies were conducted using eight mature gelding horses to compare th e digestibility of dry matter, crude protein, neutral-detergent fibre and gross energy, as well as voluntary intake of pelleted, cubed, chop ped and long-hay forms of alfalfa. In addition, the efficacy of using dysprosium as a digestibility marker, when fed as part of supplemental vitamin-mineral pellets, was evaluated. Digestibility coefficients we re not significantly different (p>0.05) between any of the forms of al falfa. However, all digestibilities were consistently lower when calcu lated from dysprosium recovery compared to the total collection method . The voluntary intake of cubes was greater (p<0.05) at 3.20 kg/100 kg BW per day compared with pellets, chopped and long hay at 2.52, 2.70 and 2.54, respectively. To summarize, reported differences in the dige stibilities between different forms of alfalfa probably reflect differ ences in nutrient content of the feedstuffs rather than any effect of plant processing.