Impact of nutrition and probiotics on the equine microbiota: current scientific knowledge and legal regulations

摘要

The hindgut microbiota of the horse is a complex structure which can be highly influenced by the diet or nutrients such as starch. For instance, a diet rich in starch promotes the growth of bacteria that can utilize starch and produce lactate while it reduces the growth of fiber fermenting cellulolytic bacteria. Therefore, attempts are made to balance the hindgut microbiota and to minimize the impacts of feeds which are rich in starch such as the supplementation of probiotics. Up to date only different strains of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae (SC) are officially registered probiotics for horses in the European Union. However, studies evaluating the impact of SC supplementation in vivo showed equivocal results in the equine.