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Consumption and Excretion of Water by Horses Receiving All Hay and Hay-Grain Diets¹

New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, New Brunswick

Abstract

Observations of water intake and excretion via urine and feces were made during three metabolism experiments. Each experiment was a 6x6 Latin square design using six mature Standardbred geldings (average weight 427 kg.) and six diets for 2 wk. periods including 6 collection days. The horses were at rest. The environmental temperature varied between 3° and 15° C. The diets were fed at approximately maintenance levels. Water was supplied ad libitum. In experiment I, the diets were the hay of Lincoln bromegrass, Reed canarygrass, Alta fescue, timothy, Atlantic alfalfa, and red clover hays, and in experiment II, the hay of Lincoln bromegrass, Midland bermudagrass, Reed canarygrass, Alta fescue, orchardgrass, and Atlantic alfalfa. In experiment III, the diets were a combination of corn, barley, or oats with the alfalfa and Reed canarygrass hays of experiment II in a factorial arrangement.

Water intake regressed closely with the dry matter intake (r=0.91) but the composition of the dry matter was also a major consideration. Diets having a higher CWC content produced larger amounts of feed residue which required a larger amount of water for excretion or which, by its bulky nature, retained more water as it passed through the digestive system. Conversely, the most digestible diets produced the least fecal residue and required less water for excretion. Less water was consumed in amount and per unit of dry matter with the most digestible diets.

Legume forage required as much water per unit of dry matter for ingestion as the grass forages but because of the higher digestibility, more water was absorbed from the intestines and less water was excreted in the feces. A markedly greater volume of urine was excreted from horses consuming the legume forages. The ash content had an apparent influence on water intake and water excretion, but the results were confounded with dry matter intake and digestibility and the effect of ash could not be separated.

¹ Paper of the Journal Series, New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, Rutgers—The State University, Department of Animal Science, New Brunswick.