Efeito de diferentes alimentos sobre a curva de glicose em equinos sadios

Abstract

Currently, there is a wide variety of new components used in the formulation of equine diet; however, some foods are still kept, mainly for work animals, by tradition or culture in various regions of the country. This work aimed to evaluate the glycemic curve of five different foods commonly provided for equines. Five adult equines were used, in maintenance, body score 4.5 in a scale of 9, distributed in a factorial with 5 horses and 5 foods (wet corn grain, wet corn grain plus common salt (50g), pelleted alfalfa, extruded corn, extruded rice), and with an interval of 4 days between each test. On the test day, they were isocalorically supplemented (3.0 Mcal/animal) and blood samples were obtained after 12h of fasting and post-feeding in the following periods: +30, +60, +90, +120, +180, +240 minutes. The samples were used for determination of glucose and total plasma proteins (TPP). The results were submitted to ANOVA and Tukey's test. The results indicated differences between the treatments (p <0.05) and between the blood collection phases (p <0.05), but without significant interaction for glucose and for TPP. The highest increase in TPP was alfalfa (8.10 mg/dL) and wet corn with salt (7.90 mg/dL), both with a peak at + 30 min, but without differences between them (p> 0.05). The highest glucose variation occurred with extruded corn, with a peak at + 120 min (145 mg/dL). Evaluating the phases, regardless of the treatments, it was observed that the TPP peak occurred at + 30 min (~7.65 mg/dL) and for glucose was + 120 min (~ 131.3 mg/dL). Thus, it is possible to assert that both alfalfa and corn with salt apparently promote a large displacement of liquids to the intestines by raising TPP and extruded corn is the most glycemic food. It is concluded that different foods produce different glycemic curves, with the pelleted alfalfa producing the smallest curve and the extruded corn producing the largest. Therefore, all food must be properly studied and tested for its metabolic function in order to use it in the most appropriate way and that contributes to the animals’ health.