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- Title
Effects of Salinity Levels of Drinking Water on Water Intake and Loss, Feed Utilization, Body Weight, Thermoregulatory Traits, and Blood Constituents in Growing and Mature Blackhead Ogaden Sheep and Somali Goats.
- Authors
Yirga, Hirut; Urge, Mengistu; Goetsch, Arthur Louis; Tolera, Adugna; Puchala, Ryszard; Patra, Amlan Kumar
- Abstract
Simple Summary: Livestock in different parts of the world consume drinking water containing variable levels of total dissolved solids (TDSs) that may influence their performance and health. Growing and mature Blackhead Ogaden sheep and Somali goats were used to evaluate the effect of salinity levels (up to 17 g/L of TDSs) of drinking water on water intake and loss, nutrient utilization, thermoregulation, and blood characteristics. Drinking water, total water intake, urine excretion, and total water loss were higher in both young and mature sheep and goats, while apparent dry matter digestibility decreased for high levels of TDSs compared with fresh water. There were no adverse effects of high salinity levels tested on feed intake, body weight change, different blood variables, and thermoregulatory mechanisms, reflecting considerable tolerance of relatively high levels of salinity in drinking water by these goat and sheep breeds. This experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of drinking water salinity levels on water intake and loss, feed intake and digestion, body weight (BW), thermoregulation, and blood characteristics on growing and mature (18.8 ± 0.39 and 21.8 ± 0.40 kg BW, and 0.6–1 and 1.5–2 years of age, respectively) Blackhead Ogaden sheep and Somali goats. The animals were assigned to a 4 (water salinity) × 2 (sheep and goat species) × 2 (growing and mature animals) factorial arrangement for the 60-day experimental period and 10-day digestibility determination. Water treatments were fresh water (FRW) and low (SW-L), moderate (SW-M), and high (SW-H) levels of salinity (i.e., the addition of NaCl to obtain 10, 13.5, and 17 g of total dissolved salts (TDSs)/L, respectively). The salinity of drinking water did not affect feed intake, BW, thermoregulatory traits (respiration rate, rectal temperature, and heart rate), or blood parameters (p > 0.05); however, drinking water, total water intake, urine excretion, and total water loss increased (p < 0.01) while apparent dry matter digestibility decreased quadratically (p < 0.01) with increasing water salinity. Analysis of the interaction between water treatment and species showed that PCV (p = 0.059) and hemoglobin (p = 0.070) levels tended to be higher in sheep than in goats drinking FRW, and AST activities were greater (p = 0.036) in goats consuming SW-M than in sheep consuming water with the same salinity level. In conclusion, increasing the salinity level of drinking water by adding NaCl to up to 17 g/L of TDSs had no adverse effect on the water intake, feed intake, BW, and health status of growing and mature Blackhead Ogaden sheep and Somali goats.
- Subjects
DRINKING (Physiology); DRINKING water; GOATS; BODY weight; SALINITY; SHEEP breeds
- Publication
Animals (2076-2615), 2024, Vol 14, Issue 11, p1565
- ISSN
2076-2615
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.3390/ani14111565