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The tolerance of grazing desert ewes and their lambs to prolonged intake of natural saline waters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

J. P. Mittal
Affiliation:
Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Jodhpur, India
P. K. Ghosh
Affiliation:
Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Jodhpur, India
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Abstract

The effect of prolonged intake of saline well waters on the productive performance of 56 mature ewes and their lambs of the Magra and Marwari breed of the Rajasthan desert was studied for a period of 44 months. The sheep were maintained at pasture and given drinking water containing 0·3, 2·0 and 3·5 g/1 of total soluble salts. Body-weight changes during pregnancy and lactation, milk yields, greasy-fleece yields of the ewes, lamb birth weights and subsequent body-weight gains, up to weaning and post weaning, and greasy-fleece yield and pre-weaning and post-weaning survival rates of the lambs remained unaffected by the salinity levels in the waters tested.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1984

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References

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