Four foals, sired by the same stallion, aged between 10 and 12 months and 270 ± 9.80 kg average weight, were alloted in a 4 X 4 balanced Latin Square design. The effects were analyzed of the inclusion of the levels of 5, 10, 15 and 20% of soybean oil in the concentrate on the acceptability, nutrient digestibilities and on total cholesterol plasma concentrations and its fractions: very low density lipoprotein (VLDL-C), low-density lipoprotein (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein (HDL-C) and total triglycerides (TRG). The increase in the level of soybean oil in the diet affected the digestibilities of organic matter, neutral detergent fiber and acid detergent fiber that presented a quadratic response which decreased after a expected values of 10.7, 9.5 and 10.5% ether extract in the concentrate, respectively. There was a linear response of the soybean oil levels on the cholesterol plasma concentration and LDL-C that showed a decrease of 0.65 mg/dL cholesterol and 0.58 mg/dL LDL-C for each 1% increase in ether extract in the concentrate. The inclusion of soybean oil affected the digestibility of the diet, especially the cell wall and the plasma cholesterol and LDL-C concentrations.
cholesterol; digestibility; equine; fats; lipoproteins
