EFFECT OF DIETARY CATION-ANION BALANCE ON URINARY MINERAL EXCRETION IN EXERCISED HORSES

Four mares and four geldings of Quarter Horse and Thoroughbred breeding were used in two simultaneous 4 x 4 Latin square experiments to study the effects of dietary cation-anion balance (DCAB), defined as meq ((Na + K)-Cl) /kg dry matter, on urinary pH and mineral excretion in exercised horses. Diets consisted of a pelleted concentrate of corn, soybean meal and cottonseed hulls fed with bermudagrass hay. Treatments with DCAB of +5 (Low, L), +107 (Medium Low, ML), +201 (Medium High, MH) and +327 (High, H), meq ((Na + K)-Cl)/kg dry matter were formed by supplementing diet L with calcium chloride and ammonium chloride, diet ML with calcium chloride and diet H with sodium bicarbonate and potassium citrate (Table 1). Diet MH was not supplemented and served as the control treatment. Horses were conditioned aerobically for 6 weeks using long, slow, distance (LSD) workouts. During the experimental periods, horses were subjected to a combined exercise regimen alternating LSD with an interval-training protocol 6 days/week. There was a significant ( < .01) treatment effect on urine pH; least squares means for L, ML, MH and H were 6.73, 7.17, 7.38, and 7.92. Horses consuming diet L excreted more calcium in the urine (P < .05) than those consuming MH or H. Least squares means for daily urine calcium excretion tended to be linear across treatments and ranged from 19.66 g/day for diet L to 9.12 g/day for diet H. Urinary chloride excretion was higher (P < .05) for L than for MH or H. Horses fed diet H excreted more sodium (P < .05) in urine than horses fed the other diets. Lowering DCAB, increases urinary calcium loss; depending on the level of calcium intake, this could lead to negative calcium balance in exercising horses.