Sugarbeet is more SUPER than I realised!
If you’ve been hanging around FeedXL for a while you will know I LOVE sugarbeet pulp!
And last week, while I was doing a consulting job I found another (very important) reason to love beet even more…
And that was?! … you ask!
It’s protein!!
I had not EVER thought about beet protein… in my mind it was a fibre, and a source of energy (calories). And that is still the most important reason you would add it to your horse’s diet.
In fact you don’t add beet unless you need extra calories in the diet (save for those situations where many of us use it to mix supplements into a tiny feed).
I just assumed it would have pretty poor quality protein.
But, here is what I discovered…
Sugarbeet has a really nice amino acid profile, especially given it is only around 9% protein.
If we compare it to another really common source of energy with a similar protein content, oats, you will see two very cool things:
Sugarbeet’s lysine and threonine (two of the essential amino acids we think a horse runs out of the fastest, making them super important to supply in the diet) are considerably higher than what you will get from oats, despite a very similar total protein content. Methionine levels are very similar.
Sugarbeet’s isoleucine and valine (two of the branch chain amino acids that are so important for muscle recovery) are higher than oats. And Leucine levels are similar.
So the protein in beet is pretty neat!
I do want to make it clear though that I would never add beet pulp to a diet for it’s for its protein. It is first and foremost a source of calories!
HOWEVER, I do love the fact that when we add it to the diet for calories it is also bringing in good levels of essential amino acids!
Oats | Sugarbeet Pulp | ||
Crude Protein | % | 9.1 | 9 |
Lysine | g/kg | 3.5 | 7.1 |
Methionine | g/kg | 1.4 | 1.6 |
Threonine | g/kg | 2.8 | 4.4 |
Leucine | g/kg | 6.6 | 6.3 |
Isoleucine | g/kg | 3.3 | 3.8 |
Valine | g/kg | 4.6 | 6.1 |
Data from PremierAtlas 2014
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