Original ResearchAcceptability of Teff Hay by Horses
Introduction
Teff (Eragrostis tef) is a warm season annual grass that originated in Africa where it is used primarily for grain production. Recently, nongrain varieties of teff that can be grazed or harvested for hay have become available in the United States [1]. Under good growing conditions, several cuttings of teff can be harvested from one planting, and annual dry matter yields in excess of 4 tons/acre have been reported [2], [3]. Because teff can produce relatively large yields in a short growing season, it can be an appealing crop for hay producers. When harvested in early maturity, teff hay has been reported to have a nutrient composition similar to timothy hay [1] or full bloom alfalfa hay [4]. However, no feeding experiments have been reported that compare teff with other common horse hays.
If horses discriminate against a novel feed when it is first offered, horse owners may be reluctant to continue using it in their feeding programs. Horses appear to prefer legumes and some cool season grasses to most warm season grasses [5], [6], [7]. Because teff is a warm season grass, it may have lower palatability than legume or cool season grass hays. Similarly, lower voluntary dry matter intakes (VDMI) have been reported for warm season grasses than for legumes and some cool season grasses [5], [8], [9]. If intake is reduced when teff is fed to horses, then daily nutrient intakes may be reduced as well. Depending on nutrient composition and nutrient availability, limited VDMI of teff could result in marginal or deficient nutrient intakes by horses [10].
Because studies comparing teff with common horse hays have not been reported, we conducted two experiments. In experiment 1, we used two sets of two-choice preference tests to determine whether horses accepted teff as readily as timothy hay or alfalfa hay. Preference tests were conducted without adapting horses to teff hay to simulate a situation in which a horse owner would offer the hay for the first time. In experiment 2, we compared VDMI of mature horses offered either timothy hay or teff hay for a longer period.
Section snippets
Experiment 1: Palatability Comparison for Teff, Alfalfa, and Timothy Hays
Two sets of two-choice preference tests were conducted to compare the palatability of teff hay with timothy hay and alfalfa hay. Two lots of teff hay, one lot of timothy hay, and one lot of alfalfa hay were used. The two teff hays used in this experiment included a small lot that had been harvested in the early heading stage (E-Teff; E tef, var “Tiffany”) approximately 1 year before the study and a larger lot that had been harvested at the late heading stage (L-Teff; E tef, var. “Horse Candy”)
Experiment 1: Palatability Comparison for Teff, Alfalfa, and Timothy Hays
In the two-choice preference tests, horses exhibited a strong preference (P < .05) for alfalfa over teff (Fig. 1). Alfalfa comprised more than 85% of the hay consumed during the time that horses had access to either alfalfa-teff combination. Previous reports have suggested that alfalfa hay is highly preferred to grass hay [5], [7], and therefore these results were not unexpected. It has been suggested that teff hay is similar in acceptability to timothy hay [1] but in the second set of
Summary
In two-choice preference tests, horses showed a preference for teff hay that was harvested in the early heading stage compared with teff hay harvested in late heading stage. However, when horses were offered a choice between teff hay and alfalfa hay or teff hay and timothy hay, they discriminated against the teff hay. In this study, horses that were unfamiliar with teff hay were used in order to simulate a practical situation in which teff would be offered for the first time. It is possible
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station and is published as KAES 10-07-139.
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