The objective of this study was to assess the effects of including animals or vegetable fats and mineral on the acceptability, nutrient digestibility and triglyceride plasma concentrations and cholesterol in horses. Four foals aged 13 to 16 months were used receiving diet containing grass hay and concentrate. The experimental design was a Latin Square; using orthogonal contrasts. The acceptability was not influenced by the quantity nor the type of oil added to the diets. The smallest dry matter (DM) digestibility values, organic matter (OM) and ether extract (EE) were observed for the diets with the addition of mineral oil (58.90, 60.29 and 32.02%) compared to the control diet, whose values were 62.58, 64.41 and 77.71%. The EE digestibility coefficient obtained for the diets with animal fat (90.26%) and vegetable fat (86.47%). The diet with mineral oil reduced the HDL-C concentration (68.75 mg/dL) compared to the control diet (76.00 mg/dL). The adition of fat sources and mineral oil did not influence the acceptability of the diet by the horses. The vegetable oil did not differ from animal fat regarding nutrient digestibility, but these fat sources affected ether extract digestibility. The addition of mineral oil reduced the plastmatic HDL-C levels while the addition of animal fat and vegetable fat did not alter the cholesterol plasmatic concentrations.
acceptability; cholesterol; digestibility; horses; triglycerides
