Digestible energy

Digestible energy is abbreviated as DE and is stated in the unit megajoules per kilogram (MJ/kg). Until 2014, this value was standard in the declaration and energy requirement calculation for horse feed. Today, this value is outdated according to GfE 2014.

In principle, the horse does not have access to the entire gross energy contained in a feed. Part of the energy is excreted with the faeces or lost via intestinal gases or urinary substances, such as hippuric acid. The evaluation of a feed’s energy content in DE only accounts for energy losses via the faeces. The other losses are not yet deducted in the DE value. A feed is therefore energetically overrated.

Since 2014, DE has been replaced by the ME (metabolizable energy) value. ME is more precise and has been standard in declaration and requirement calculation since 2014.