Effects of Knotweed-Enriched Feed on the Blood Characteristics and Fitness of Horses

Marcela Kovářová, Petr Maděra, Tomáš Frantík, Jan Novák and Štěpán Vencl
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Marcela Kovářová: Department of Forest Botany, Dendrology and Geobiocoenology, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 1665/1, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Petr Maděra: Department of Forest Botany, Dendrology and Geobiocoenology, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 1665/1, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Tomáš Frantík: Department of Forest Botany, Dendrology and Geobiocoenology, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 1665/1, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Jan Novák: Dibaq, Helvíkovice 90, 564 01 Žamberk, Czech Republic
Štěpán Vencl: Veterinary Laboratory, Jirchářská 217, 517 41 Kostelec nad Orlicí, Czech Republic

Agriculture, 2022, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-18

Abstract: The aboveground biomass of dry knotweed was administered daily to large groups of young (1- to 3-year-old) stallions of the Czech Warmblood, Czech-Moravian Coldblood and Silesian Norik breeds, fed individually for 4 and 6 months in two successive winter experiments. Their fitness was compared with control groups consisting of equally numerous subgroups comparable in age, breed, body mass and initial blood parameters. The effects of knotweed on the horses’ fitness were evaluated based on changes in blood characteristics. Even if administered in small amounts, 150 g per day, knotweed could (1) increase the thrombocyte numbers, (2) increase the globulin content (thus improving the horses’ immunity, which is desired in large groups of animals), (3) stimulate lipid metabolism in cold-blooded horses and (4) decrease the concentration of cholesterol. The long-lasting effect of knotweed on both the urea and triglyceride–cholesterol ratio presumably reflected, between the two experiments, the temporary protein starvation of horses on pastures with poor quality of grass in a dry summer.

Keywords: stallion; bioactive compounds; immunity; lipids; cholesterol (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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