Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

This study consists of a literature study and a survey in Tamil Nadu, India. The aim of the study was to get an understanding of horse feeding in tropical climates and what kind of feeding related problems that could occur because of the fodder. Information and data were collected from eight different stables and from Tamil Nadu University of Agriculture in the region of Tamil Nadu in March-April 2009. The horses in Tamil Nadu were given rice straw, unknown grass, Cynodon dactylon, lucerne, maize, Pennisetum glaucum x Pennisetum purpureum hybrid and Chloris gayana as roughage. As concentrates, the horses were given wheat bran, oats, barley, soybean meal, maize, carrots, coconut cake, peanut cake, horse gram and chick pea. Tropical grasses contain high amounts of lignin and oxalate, and low amounts of energy, protein and calcium. The high amount of oxalate and low amount of Ca in tropical grasses can lead to Ca deficiency and “big head disease”. Of 126 horses in the survey, 64 horses were measured to calculate their weight, fat scored and tested for dehydration. During the fat scoring, 37 of the 64 horses were judged as normal to good, 21 horses as very poor to poor and only 6 horses as fat to very fat. Only 3 horses showed signs of dehydration. The estimated energy and protein content in the feeding plans at the different stables were compared to the horses theoretically calculated energy and protein requirements. More than half of the horses had a feeding plan that fulfilled their theoretical demands. In some cases, there was a link between the fat score of the horse and their energy intake but, due to source of errors, no clear pattern could be distinguished. The most common feeding related problem was colic, which may have been related to high intake of starch from the concentrates.