Feeding value of various processed oat grains in equine diets

Diets based on hay and variously processed oats were fed in a digestibility trial. The types of processed oats were as follows: 1) untreated, 2) hulled, 3) autoclave-processed, 4) autoclave-processed hulled, 5) Dantoaster-processed, 6) Dantoaster-processed hulled. The treatments were assigned in a 6 × 6 balanced Latin square design. A preliminary feeding of 16 days was followed by a 5-day collection period. Faecal samples were taken twice a day during the collection period. Chromium was used as a marker for the estimation of apparent digestibility.The apparent dry matter (DM) and organic matter (OM) digestibilities were significantly (P < 0.001) better for diets containing hulled oats. Hulling significantly improved the digestibility of nitrogen free-extractives (P < 0.001), crude protein (P < 0.05) and neutral detergent fibre (P < 0.05). Heat treatment did not improve DM and OM digestibilities and there were no differences between the applied heat treatments. Heat treatment did have a tendency to decrease crude fibre digestibility, but the difference was not statistically significant. Dantoaster heat treatment resulted in better crude fat digestibilities compared to autoclave treatment (P < 0.05). Hulling of oats seems to be the most effective way to improve the nutritive value of oats.