A comparison between chromium‐mordanted hay and acid‐insoluble ash to determine apparent digestibility of a chaffed, molassed hay/straw mixture

The apparent digestibility of a molassed, chaffed grass hay/straw mixture was determined using four mature horses (mean weight 606 kg). Animals were stalled individually and kept on rubber mats. A preliminary feeding period of 18 days was followed by a 10 day collection period. Chromium-mordanted hay was given before the first feed at 08.00 h and subsequent meals were at 12.00, 16.00 and 20.00 h. On Days 3 and 10 of the collection, all faeces were sampled over a 24 h period. In addition, throughout the 10 day collection, faecal material was sampled at 10.00 and 16.00 h. The mean (+/- se) chromium recovery was 96.5 per cent +/- 0.76 and the hay/straw mixture contained 7 MJDE/kg dry matter and 15.1 g DCP/kg dry matter. There was no significant difference between the methods used to estimate apparent digestibility although chromium measurements consistently underestimated whilst acid-insoluble ash consistently overestimated digestibility values. There was a large variation in faecal chromium concentration for each horse over a 24 h period compared to acid-insoluble ash concentrations and, consequently, indirect estimates of apparent digestibility of nutrients in the equine are prone to large errors if chromium is used as a marker. If total faecal collection is impractical, acid-insoluble ash is the preferred indirect marker for the estimation of apparent digestibility coefficients for nutrients in horses.