The nutritive value of sugar beet pulp-substituted lucerne for equids

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the nutritive value of sugar-beet-substituted lucerne for equids. In both experiments four mature Welsh-cross pony geldings were used in a 4 x 4 Latin-square design to assess the effect of sugar beet pulp (SB) on the nutritive value of either high-temperature dried (HT) lucerne (Experiment 1) or ensiled lucerne (Experiment 2) for equids. Both experiments consisted of four levels of SB substitution: 0 [DC], 100 [SB 10], 200 [SB20] and 300 [SB30] g/kg DM for Experiment 1, and 0 [WS], 100 [SB 1], 200 [SB2] and 300 [SB3] g/kg DM for Experiment 2.Each diet was fed to give a total DM intake of 17.5 g/kg of liveweight per day, offered in two equal meals at 12-h intervals. Digestibility was determined by total faecal collection. SB substitution of HT and ensiled lucerne increased (P<0.01) total diet total non-starch polysaccharide (TNSP) digestibility compared to the control: 0.63, 0.65, 0.71 and 0.58 for SB10, SB20, SB30 and DC, respectively; and 0.62, 0.62, 0.69 and 0.55 for SB1, SB2, SB3 and WS, respectively. Furthermore, TNSP digestibility values for SB as a sole feed (calculated 'by difference' and predicted by regression) were greater than unity, indicating an increase in the digestibility of the cell wall fraction of the lucerne. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.