Minimising feeding behaviour interference: A hay-shaker device to assess dust exposure in horses.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Organic dust from hay is a primary trigger of equine asthma.

Objectives

(1) To introduce a novel hay-shaker (HS) device for standardised hay dust generation, enabling simultaneous measurements of various particulate matter (PM) size fractions. (2) To compare these measurements with those in the horse's breathing zone (BZ) to assess the influence of environmental and individual factors.

Study design

Comparative experimental study.

Methods

A HS generating dust was developed. Total dust (PMT) and size fractions (PM1, PM2.5, PM4 and PM10, representing particle size in μm) were measured from 50 hay samples provided by clients using an aerosol monitor (DustTrak DRX 8534) in the HS (HS-PMx) and the BZ (BZ-PMx) of 50 horses (26 healthy, 24 asthmatic) during

SUBMITTER: Bouverat VMA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12508277 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature