Food and Nutrition Sciences, 2014, 5, 1272-1279 Published Online July 2014 in SciRes. http://www.scirp.org/journal/fns http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/fns.2014.513138 How to cite this paper: Brandi, R.A., Tribucci, A.M.O., Balieiro, J.C.C., Hoffman, R.M. and Bueno, I.C.S. (2014) Citrus Pulp in Concentrates for Horses. Food and Nutrition Sciences, 5, 1272-1279. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/fns.2014.513138 Citrus Pulp in Concentrates for Horses Roberta A. Brandi 1* , Adriana M. O. Tribucci 1 , Julio C. C. Balieiro 1 , Rhonda M. Hoffman 2 , Ives C. S. Bueno 1 1 Faculty of Animal Science and Food Engineering, University of São Paulo, Pirassununga, Brazil 2 School of Agribusiness & Agroscience, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, USA Email: * robertabrandi@usp.br Received 23 April 2014; revised 25 May 2014; accepted 7 June 2014 Copyright © 2014 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Abstract The objective of this study was to evaluate the inclusion of increasing levels of citrus pulp in horse diets by investigating nutrient digestibility and the diet carbohydrate fractions, as well as to eva- luate the correlation observed between the studied digestibility coefficients. Five adult horses were used. The horses were housed in individual stalls and had approximate ages of 3.5 years and live weights of 492.5 ± 44.5 kg. The experimental diets were formulated to meet the animals’ re- quirements for maintenance, establishing a roughage-to-concentrate ratio of 60:40 with the coast-cross hay as the roughage. The formulated concentrates contained increasing inclusion le- vels of citrus pulp (0%, 7%, 14%, 21%, and 28%). No effect of the diets was observed (p > 0.05) on the coefficients of digestibility of dry matter, organic matter, crude protein, ether extract, nitro- gen-free extract, and non-fibrous carbohydrates; however, there was an effect (p < 0.05) on the soluble carbohydrates, y = 66.298 + 0.3724x. Citrus pulp may be used in horse diets at up to 28% concentrate. Citrus pulp is a safe energy source and benefits the digestibility of the nutrients and the carbohydrate fraction (both the fibrous and non-fibrous fractions) of the diet. Keywords Carbohydrates, Citrus Pulp, Digestibility, Horses 1. Introduction Horses are capable of using large amounts of roughage to meet their nutritional requirements; however, to maximize growth and productivity, diets with high percentages of grain are used [1]. To meet the requirements of several types of horses, alternative ingredients in the composition of the diets have been sought. Among the various nutrients, carbohydrates are the main source of energy for horses [2], and they may be * Corresponding author.