Resilience of Lambs to Limited Water Availability without Compromising Their Production Performance

Water scarcity is a common phenomenon in arid and semi-arid regions, which could have tremendous effects on livestock production. This study aimed to determine the level of water restriction that lambs fed on a pelleted diet can tolerate without compromising their production performance. A total of...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Animals (Basel) 2020-09, Vol.10 (9), p.1491
Main Authors: Adeniji, Yusuf A, Sanni, Musafau O, Abdoun, Khalid A, Samara, Emad M, Al-Badwi, Mohamed A, Bahadi, Majdi A, Alhidary, Ibrahim A, Al-Haidary, Ahmed A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Albumins
Animal welfare
Arid zones
Climate change
Consumption
Conversion ratio
Diet
Digestibility
Esterification
Feed conversion
Feeds
growth
Humidity
Laboratories
Lambs
Livestock
Livestock production
Metabolism
Najdi sheep
Nitrogen
nutrient metabolism
Physiological aspects
Semi arid areas
Semiarid lands
Sheep
Urea
Water availability
Water conservation
Water intake
Water intakes
water restriction
Water scarcity
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Water scarcity is a common phenomenon in arid and semi-arid regions, which could have tremendous effects on livestock production. This study aimed to determine the level of water restriction that lambs fed on a pelleted diet can tolerate without compromising their production performance. A total of 24 male Najdi lambs were housed individually and randomly allocated into three equal groups, namely ad libitum water intake, 33% water-intake restriction, and 67% water-intake restriction. Dry-matter intake, feed conversion ratio, and average daily gain were decreased ( < 0.05) with the increasing level of water restriction. Water restriction had also reduced ( < 0.05) nutrient digestibility. The water-conserving ability of the water-restricted lambs was manifested by the production of concentrated and lower ( < 0.05) quantities of urine and feces. Meanwhile, serum osmolality and concentrations of albumin, total protein, urea-N, glucose, and non-esterified fatty acids were increased ( < 0.05) with the increasing levels of water restriction. It is surprising that lambs subjected to 67% water restriction retained more ( < 0.05) nitrogen relative to intake and had better ( < 0.05) efficiency of nitrogen utilization. It was strongly evident that lambs could tolerate water-intake restriction of up to 33% without compromising their production performance.
ISSN:2076-2615
2076-2615
DOI:10.3390/ani10091491