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

Six castrated male Karagouniko sheep, offered three levels of water, were used in a 3x3 Latin Square design to study the effects of mild water restriction on roughage intake and digestion. The three treatments were offered water ad libitum throughout the day (A), made available to the animals for 1h daily (B) or 65% of the water consumed ad libitum (C). Sheep in Treatment A consumed more water (181.9g/kg BW(0.75)) than the two water restriction regimes, which did not differ significantly (B: 128.8, C: 117.5g/kg BW(0.75)) 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 between 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 any significant effect on the nutrition of a local breed of sheep in Greece.