Elsevier

Small Ruminant Research

Volume 171, February 2019, Pages 73-76
Small Ruminant Research

Supply of water with salinity levels for Morada Nova sheep

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smallrumres.2019.01.001Get rights and content

Highlights

  • It was investigated the effect of water with salinity levels on the productive performance and the nutritional status of sheep Morada Nova.

  • The supplied waters contained 640, 3200, 5760 and 8320 mg/l of total dissolved solids (SDT).

  • The water SDT levels did not promote changes in performance, nutrient consumption and apparent digestibility.

  • Results show that the use of water with levels of up to 8320 mg / L of TDS affects the consumption of water offered in the trough.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the production performance and nutritional state of Morada Nova sheep receiving water containing levels of total dissolved solids (TDS). Thirty-two uncastrated male sheep at an average body weight of 16 ± 1.40 kg were distributed into four treatments (levels of TDS in the drinking water: 640; 3200; 5760; and 8320 mg/L) in a completely randomized design with eight animals per treatment. Performance, intake, apparent nutrient digestibility, water balance, and nitrogen balance were evaluated. The TDS levels in the water did not promote significant alterations in the performance, nutrient intake, or apparent digestibility of the animals. The intake of water supplied in the trough did not show any difference (P>0.05) for the respective treatments, with no interference with the water balance (1.46 kg/animal/day), indicating that the animals kept their water control regular through their physiological mechanisms. Total water intake (1.94 kg/animal/day), water excretion via urine (0.44 kg/animal/day), water excretion via feces (0.03 kg/animal/day), total water output (0.47 kg/animal/day) and water absorption (1.90 kg/animal/day) were not significantly affected by any of the TDS levels in the water. Total nitrogen intake was not significantly affected by the salinity levels, and thus there was no effect on nitrogen balance. The use of water with TDS levels up to 8320 mg/L did not influence the intake, nutrient digestibility, or performance of the animals, only the intake of water provided in the trough. Therefore, water containing high levels of total dissolved solids can be used in the feeding of Morada Nova sheep.

Introduction

Potable water scarcity for human and animal consumption is one of the main problems for the survival and development of rural populations in semi-arid regions, where a large number of small ruminants are reared. Such a hurdle is intrinsically related to low precipitation and irregular rainfall in these areas, besides unfavorable geological structures for subsoil water accumulations, which is the largest source of available water (Iñiguez, 2011).

In spite of the great importance of water in animal production, this issue does not receive its deserved attention in the technical-scientific field. Plumb (1927) also addressed this topic and pointed out its poor exploitation in sheep farming systems. Little investigation has been made of water as a response-variable or introducing this natural resource as the focus of a study (Schlink et al., 2010).

Given the above background, this study was conducted to evaluate the productive performance and nutritional state of Morada Nova sheep supplied with water at different levels of total dissolved solids.

Section snippets

Study site description

The experiment was carried out at an experimental field in the Animal Metabolism Unit of Embrapa Semiárido. This area is located in the Caatinga biome, in the city of Petrolina - PE, Brazil. The average annual rainfall is 570 mm, and average values of maximum and minimum annual temperatures are 33.8 and 21.5 °C, respectively. Before being carried out, the study was evaluated and approved by the Committee on Ethics and Deontology in Studies and Research of the Federal University of Vale do São

Results

The average intake of nutritional fractions (kg/day) of diets was not significantly affected (P > 0.05) by water salinity levels (Table 2).

No differences were observed in the performance of Morada Nova sheep consuming water with TDS levels up to 8320 mg/L (Table 2), which had an average daily weight gain of 151.29 g. The lowest weight gain (144.84 g/day) was obtained by lambs served water containing 8320 mg/L TDS.

There was no significant difference in feed conversion, total water intake, and

Discussion

Nutrient intake is one of the main factors in animal production efficiency. The dry matter intake of lambs was higher than the 0.70 kg/animal/day suggested by the National Research Council - NRC (2007) for late-developing animals with a body weight of 20 kg and for a weight gain of 200 g/day, demonstrating that the increasing TDS levels in water had no effect on sheep DM intake (Table 2).

Dry matter intake is an important factor in the performance of feedlot sheep, being considered determinant

Conclusions

Increasing levels of total dissolved solids in water up to 8320 mg/L shall not interfere with the nutritional or productive performance of Morada Nova sheep. These findings are highly relevant as they can explain the adaptability of native sheep to brackish waters found in a great number of underground wells of semi-arid regions in northeastern Brazil, besides allowing the watering of these animals without compromising their performance.

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