Daily Phosphorus Losses in Growing Horses Studied

Current feeding recommendations might be overestimating fecal inevitable phosphorus losses in growing horses.
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Some owners might supplement their horses’ diets with phosphorus (P) in order to meet the National Research Council’s (NRC) guidelines for recommended amounts of the mineral, but a recent study from Swedish researchers found that the NRC’s latest guidelines (most recently updated in 2007) might be overestimating fecal inevitable P losses.

“From an environmental perspective this is important because the global (phosphorus) reserve is running out and phosphorus excreted from animals contribute to eutrophication (high concentration of nutrients causing oxygen depletion in water),” reported Anna Jansson, professor at both the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Holar University College in Iceland.

Jansson and a research team set out to evaluate P balance (intake vs. fecal output) and fecal P losses in growing horses, as well as to determine the proportion of the soluble, inorganic P in feces, which is responsible for eutrophication.

During the study the team evaluated 14 young Standardbred trotters in training fed free-choice fescue/timothy haylage

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Casie Bazay is a freelance and young adult writer, as well as a certified equine acupressure practitioner. She also hosts a blog, The Naturally Healthy Horse. Once an avid barrel racer, she now enjoys giving back to the horses who have given her so much.

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