An in sacco mobile bag technique was used to determine the rate and extent of disappearance of unmolassed sugar-beet pulp, soyabean hulls, hay cubes and an oat hull–naked oats mixture (67:33, w/w) in the foregut and total digestive tract of ponies. Ponies were administered naso-gastrically polyester mesh bags (60×10×10 mm) containing 350 mg feed, in a 3×4 Latin square design. Bags were collected at the ileo-caecal junction (small intestine bag, SIB) and in the faeces (faecal bag, FB) and their residues analysed for proximate constituents and NSP composition and content. DM disappearances from individual bags were fitted to degradation profiles () and effective degradability values determined. Significant differences (P<0·05) in DM, organic matter and crude protein (N×6·25) losses from SIB were noted between feeds with hay cubes and oat hulls–naked oats > sugar-beet pulp and soyabean hulls. Acid-detergent fibre, neutral-detergent fibre and NSP disappearances were small and varied little between feeds. In contrast, FB losses showed significant (P<0·05) differences for all constituents measured with sugar-beet pulp > soyabean hulls > hay cubes > oat hulls–naked oats. Crude protein losses from sugar-beet pulp and soyabean hulls in FB were significantly higher (P<0·05) than from SIB. FB degradation curves showed degradation to be affected by bag residence time with sugar-beet pulp > soyabean hulls and the effective degradability showed that significantly more (P<0·05) sugar-beet pulp was lost at 40.0 and 60.0 h than for the other three feeds. These results show that sugar-beet pulp and soyabean hulls are rapidly degraded by ponies and could be used as alternatives to hay in equid rations. However, the foregut availability of crude protein from sugar-beet pulp is poor, so a readily digestible source of crude protein should be offered to animals with high protein demands when diets are based on sugar-beet pulp.

The UK Food Standards Agency convened a group of expert scientists to review current research investigating whether n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) from plant oils (α-linolenic acid; ALA) were as beneficial to cardiovascular health as the n-3 PUFA from the marine oils, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). The workshop also aimed to establish priorities for future research. Dietary intake of ALA has been associated with a beneficial effect on CHD; however, the results from studies investigating the effects of ALA supplementation on CHD risk factors have proved equivocal. The studies presented as part of the present workshop suggested little, if any, benefit of ALA, relative to linoleic acid, on risk factors for cardiovascular disease; the effects observed with fish-oil supplementation were not replicated by ALA supplementation. There is a need, therefore, to first prove the efficacy of ALA supplementation on cardiovascular disease, before further investigating effects on cardiovascular risk factors. The workshop considered that a beneficial effect of ALA on the secondary prevention of CHD still needed to be established, and there was no reason to look further at existing CHD risk factors in relation to ALA supplementation. The workshop also highlighted the possibility of feeding livestock ALA-rich oils to provide a means of increasing the dietary intake in human consumers of EPA and DHA.