The effect of water availability on feed intake and digestion in sheep

Six castrated male Karagouniko sheep, offered three levels of water, were u sed in a 3x3 Latin Square design to study the effects of mild water restric tion on roughage intake and digestion. The three treatments were offered wa ter ad libitum throughout the day (A), made available to the animals for 1 h daily (B) or 65% of the water consumed ad libitum (C). Sheep in Treatment A consumed mon water (181.9 g/kg BW0.75) than the two water restriction re gimes, which did not differ significantly (B: 128.8, C: 117.5 g/kg BW0.75) between them. Roughage dry matter intake and digestibility of nutrients did not differ significantly between treatments. Non-significant differences ( p>0.05) were also observed in the rate of passage of undigested residues be tween treatments (A: 48.7, B: 56.9 and C: 54.5 %/h). It was concluded that the water restrictions usually applied during the dry season did not have a ny significant effect on the nutrition of a local breed of sheep in Greece. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.