ridecamp@endurance.net: Re: lysine and protein supplements

Re: lysine and protein supplements

Duncan Fletcher (dfletche@gte.net)
Tue, 28 Oct 1997 09:27:26 -0800

The use of protein percentage as a comparison guideline can be misleading. I
prefer to use protein level normalized to DE. For example, say you are
feeding a diet of only midbloom timothy with a protein level of 8.6%. You
want to increase protein and barley with a protein level of 11.7%. Assuming
the horse maintains weight on both diets, with the substitution of barley
the horse will eat LESS protein.

The problem: Barley despite the high percentage (11.7%) is an energy dense
feed causing the horse to consume substantially less food (by weight) than
when he was on the timothy only diet.

Normalized to DE, the protein content of barley is only 35.9 g/Mcal and for
mid bloom timothy it is 48.6 g/Mcal. In other words for every Mcal of food
consumption, the timothy will supply 48.6 g of protein while the barley will
supply only 35.9 g.

Of course the other issues are still there - digestibility (on which there
is very little data) and amino acid balance - but the same principle would
apply if one could obtain figures on say digestible lysine content of
orchardgrass. A number normaized to DE rather than raw percentage would be a
better means of comparison.

Duncan Fletcher
dfletche@gte.net

-----Original Message-----
From: Susan Evans Garlinghouse <suendavid@worldnet.att.net>
> [snip]
>Here's where we get to the opinion part. Alot of people both in the
>scientific community and out in the field are of the opinion that the
>NRC recommendations for protein for a working horse are on the
>conservative side. Not by a whole lot, but a few percent---in other
>words, lots of people feel that intensely exercising horses do better
>with a protein content closer to 12-14% rather than the 10% recommended
>by the NRC
> [snip]
>Susan Evans Garlinghouse
>

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