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Rutgers Relays Its Research Results At Annual Update
By Lillian Shupe, Senior Contributing Editor, Horse News
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — The Rutgers Science Update held on Dec. 3, 2003 was a
celebration of 25 years of horses at the university.
In 1978, Cook College established an equine science program as part of its
Department of Animal Sciences, with a focus of conducting research in the
areas of exercise physiology; aging, growth and development; and nutrition.
The program grew and out of it evolved the Rutgers Equine Science Center.
The science update is held annually for researchers to let the public know
about the latest progress in various research projects.
To start the evening off, Center Director Karyn Malinowski presented Taylor
Palmer Jr. with crystal mare and foal figurines in recognition for his years
of service. Palmer, who heads Boxwood Farms in Englishtown, N.J., has been
chair of the Rutgers University Board for Equine Advancement since its
inception in 1992 but was involved in equine science at Rutgers for many
years before that. RUBEA is an advisory group consisting of horse industry
leaders that acts as a liaison between the university and the horse
industry.
It has been a busy and productive year for the Equine Science Center. In the early spring,
Horses 2003 and the Horse Industry Summit were held. In July,
representatives of both harness and Thoroughbred racing got together to
discuss issues facing the industry at the Horse Industry Economic
Development Initiative and Racing Roundtable. “Racing is at a critical
stage,” Dr. Malinowski said, “If something happens to the racing industry,
the pleasure horses will be out of business too.”
The purpose of the meeting was to identify additional funding sources for
racing; promote cooperation and reduce competition between racing and
casinos; implement legislation permitting off track wagering; increase fan
base through marketing; dedicate funding to purse and breeding incentives;
and emphasize strong connections between open space and a viable racing
industry.
New Faces
During the year the Rutgers Equine Science Center welcomed several new faces
and moved its headquarters to the New Jersey Museum of Agriculture on the
Cook College Campus.
Diana Orban Brown was named director of Marketing and Communications and
Todd Wilkinson as teaching/research associate.
Another notable new face is Carey Williams, Ph.D., who took Dr. Malinowski’s place
with Rutgers Cooperative Extension as Extension Specialist in Equine
Science.
Dr. Williams received her bachelor’s degree in equine science from Colorado
State University and her master’s and doctorate degrees from Virginia
Polytechnic Institute and State University, concentrating on equine
nutrition. As a youth, she was a member of the U.S. Pony Club, and stayed
involved in Pony Club and 4-H while in Virginia. She has extensive
experience in breeding, foaling, farm management, data collection and
analysis and other aspects of equine science.
Research Projects
PREGNANCY LOSS
Carol Bagnell, Ph.D. is continuing her work on the role of the
hormone relaxin in late term pregnancy loss. Mares which lost foals or had
difficult births showed a decline in relaxin levels prior to giving birth.
Dr. Bagnell’s goal is to develop a simple, inexpensive and reliable test
that would predict when a mare’s placenta was failing. A test done early
enough would allow mares to be treated before the foal was lost. The key to
developing such as test is to be able to produce synthetic relaxin, since
extracting the natural hormone is time consuming and expensive.
ENERGY BALANCE
Mary Beth Gordon, M.S. studied energy balance in fit versus unfit
horses. During the competition season racehorses often do not eat enough to
maintain their energy levels. This loss of appetite can lead to decreases in
performance and other health problems. Racing Standardbreds were used in the
study and trainers filled out extensive questionnaires.
Fit horses had different levels of certain compounds in their blood than
unfit horses. There was no difference in cortisol levels between groups, but
body weights, percent fat and body condition scores were lower in
racehorses. The hormone leptin was lower in racehorses while ghrelin and
adiponectin were higher.
Higher ghrelin concentrations may be reflective of having increased energy
demands while lower leptin concentrations in racehorses is reflective of
lower body fat percentage and may help increase food intake. Higher
adiponectin concentrations in racehorses is most likely reflective of
increased insulin sensitivity and lower body fat, Ms. Gordon said.
The next step in her research is to find ways to manipulate the energy
balancing hormones to get racehorses to eat more.
VENERAL DISEASE
Frank Petersen, Ph.D. discussed his progress on developing a quick
and reliable test for contagious equine metritis, a highly contagious
venereal disease. A large number of horses being imported into the United
States must be quarantined until they are deemed CEM negative. The current
test takes up to four weeks. A quick and reliable test would mean less time
would have to be spent in quarantine. Dr. Petersen is working on a test that
would identify horses with an active infection within one hour. The accuracy
of the test is being validated now.
Work has also started on developing a similar test for equine viral
arteritis.
GLUCOSE AND INSULIN
Dr. Sarah Ralston, VMD, Ph.D., dACVN is continuing her studies on
glucose and insulin regulation in rapidly growing horses. A new crop of
foals from the pregnant mare urine ranches arrived in the fall.
Data over the last three years has shown that draft horses continue to grow
steadily throughout the year while light breeds tend to slow down during the
winter months. This makes the drafters ideal for this research, Dr. Ralston
said.
Delivery of a low dose oral dextrose via a syringe, which was originally
tested in 2001, was validated as a sensitive and reliable test of glucose
tolerance in young horses when compared to intravenous delivery or via food
products. This test will be ready for field testing this year or next.
Now Dr. Ralston is looking into Glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1), a hormone
involved in insulin release. It was measured for the first time in horses
and was found to respond to meals and glucose challenges as described in
other species. Further studies of this hormone’s responses to different
feeds in addition to dextrose challenges are in progress. The goal is to
better understand the mechanisms of glucose regulation so developmental
problems can be avoided through nutrition.
In another project done with Rocky Mountain Research, it was found that
grass hays which are commonly believed to be low in sugars, can be as high
as 30% sugar when harvested after a drought or frost. Hays high in sugar can
cause horses to founder.
The sugar in hay can be cut in half by soaking it for about 30 minutes. The
soaking also reduces potassium but does not affect other nutrients. Visit
www.safergrass.org for more
information.
The fillies used in the study will be auctioned off in April. Three Belgian
and two Belgian cross mares will also be sold.
MUSCLE METABOLISM
Malcolm Watford explained work being done to understand the
relationship between exercise and glucose metabolism. Standardbred foals
that were born at Rutgers were studied. Researchers thought they would see
an increase in a substance called Glut 4 as the foal grew. Glut 4 regulates
glucose metabolism. Instead the tests showed it actually decreased.
The next step is to determine if an early exercise regime would restore Glut
4 expression. It is believed that would increase glucose uptake and insulin
sensitivity and thus reduce development of orthopedic problems as the foal
grows.
The goal of this research is to develop nutritional programs to ensure the
health of both mare and foal.
Used with permission from Horse News,
www.horsenewsonline.com
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