When it comes to your horse’s nutrition, you do everything you can. But what’s actually happening inside their gut that you can’t see at the center of their health and performance? The Purina Animal Nutrition team has worked for over a decade to create the exciting Microbiome Quotient™ Platform to unlock the mystery of equine gut health and its connection to wellbeing and performance.
What Exactly is the Microbiome Anyway?
The term microbiome refers to the combined population of all the bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and viruses that inhabit a specific area. At Purina, we are most interested in the microbiome of the equine gastrointestinal tract, but every part of your horse has its own unique microbiome. Each “bug” in a microbiome plays a specific role and it is because of their combined efforts that a horse can survive and thrive.
The gastrointestinal (GI) microbiome of a horse is dictated by a variety of factors including diet, age, metabolic status, activity level, pregnancy status, and disease state. Research has shown an increasingly apparent link between the GI microbiome and health. Elaborate communication pathways have been identified between the host (your horse) and the microbes in its gut. This communication is evident by the role that the microbiome plays in influencing immune function, inflammation, and even cognitive function and behavior.
Every horse’s gut microbiome is as unique to them as a fingerprint, or the whorl on your horse’s head. While unique, it is also dynamic. The factors that drive the development of the microbiome (diet, age, metabolic status, activity level, pregnancy status and disease state) all change and so does the relative population of the microbes that make up this diverse ecosystem. This means the ideal microbiome for one horse may be inappropriate for another horse. That’s why it is so important to learn what is normal (and abnormal) before attempting to influence the microbiome in a meaningful way.
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The Quest to Unlock the Mystery of the Equine Microbiome
Purina has been studying the effects of nutrition on the equine microbiome for over a decade. Thousands of samples from horses across the country have been collected, processed, and analyzed to build an incredibly robust equine microbiome database. All to learn more about how we can help keep your horse’s gut healthy and functioning effectively.
Understanding how to support the optimal balance of the equine microbiome starts with understanding what a healthy microbiome should look like. Through next-generation sequencing and data analysis, we have developed a unique understanding of equine microbiome and have identified specific factors most likely to influence the health and performance of your horse. This knowledge was translated into the Purina® MQ™ platform and designed to help you unlock insights specific to your horse’s unique gut health.
Explore Your Horse’s Gut at Home
As part of the Purina® MQ™ platform, the new Purina® MQ™ Equine Microbiome Testing Kit was developed to help you understand your horse’s individual GI microbiome right at home.The process is simple to use, right in the barn or stable.
First register your kit, create your horse’s profile, and then fill out your horse’s health history survey including their diet and lifestyle. Second, use the included swab to collect a fecal sample (as easy as taking your horse’s rectal temperature), put it in the provided vial and send in the sample. The bacteria present in your horse’s hindgut will be evaluated and compared against our extensive database of microbiome samples.
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Once the sample has been analyzed, you’ll receive your horse’s MQ™ report that includes:
- Your horse’s current MQ™ Status: A comparison of your horse’s fecal microbiome to that of typical healthy horses.
- An interactive breakdown of the microbial community in your horse’s gut with information about those specific bacteria.
- A tool to compare your horse’s microbial community to that of other horses of similar breed, diet, age and more.
- Your horse’s microbial diversity: A measure of the number of different bacterial families that populate your horse’s microbiome and how it compares to others.
- A personalized nutrition plan developed by Purina®PhD equine nutritionists, including suggested products tailored to their unique needs
This service can be incorporated as part of a yearly wellness check or to learn more about potential links between a horse’s microbiome and what we can see on the outside.
Thinking About Probiotics in a New Way
Another outcome of the MQ™ platform has been the ability to research probiotics and their effects in a new way. Until now, the marketing has often outpaced the science in this space. There are many probiotic supplements on the market and increasingly being used in equine diets, but the data showing results in horses may be scant or lacking. It’s not always easy to know whether they are doing anything useful for your horse. Probiotics should provide live microorganisms that, when present in adequate amounts, can have beneficial effects within the horse. The key is that probiotics should be alive. If manufacturing, storage conditions or the digestive tract environment kill the probiotics, this impacts their effectiveness and are no longer technically considered probiotics.
The Purina® Systemiq™ Probiotic Supplement contains a unique strain of bacteria (Bacillus coagulans) that has been shown in research to:
- Remain live and active after pelleting and throughout the digestive tract to support optimal gut flora.
- Support optimal digestive and immune function in horses, when fed daily.
- Support normal hindgut health and fecal consistency in horses stressed from exercise or other activities.
The Purina® MQ™ platform is helping to solve the mystery of the microbiome and finding new ways to support it. We’re at the center of discovery and we’re just getting started. Dig more into our discoveries at mq.purinamills.com or visit your local Purina® dealer to find out how the MQ Platform, test kit and Systemiq™ Probiotic Supplement can help you better support your horse and their GI microbiome.
