Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T15:59:12.665Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Reactions to saline drinking water in Boer goats in a free-choice system

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2018

R. A. Runa ,
L. Brinkmann ,
A. Riek ,
J. Hummel  and
M. Gerken
R. A. Runa*
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Sciences, University of Göttingen, Albrecht-Thaer-Weg 3, 37075 Göttingen, Germany
L. Brinkmann
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Sciences, University of Göttingen, Albrecht-Thaer-Weg 3, 37075 Göttingen, Germany
A. Riek
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Sciences, University of Göttingen, Albrecht-Thaer-Weg 3, 37075 Göttingen, Germany
J. Hummel
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Sciences, University of Göttingen, Albrecht-Thaer-Weg 3, 37075 Göttingen, Germany
M. Gerken
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Sciences, University of Göttingen, Albrecht-Thaer-Weg 3, 37075 Göttingen, Germany
*
†E-mail: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Salinization of groundwater and soil is a prevalent global issue with serious consequences on animal health and production. The present study was conducted to investigate the capacity of Boer goats to adjust their salt intake from saline drinking water in a free-choice system. In total, 12 non-pregnant Boer goats aged between 1 and 8 years with an average BW of 46.4±8.3 kg were kept in individual pens for 4 weeks. In the control phase (1 week), only fresh water was supplied in five identical buckets for each pen. During the subsequent treatment phase (3 weeks), fresh water and four different concentrations (0.75, 1.0, 1.25 and 1.5% NaCl) of saline water were offered simultaneously in a free-choice system. The positions of the concentrations were changed daily at random. Cut hay and water were provided ad libitum, and a mineral supplement was allocated. Feed and water intake, mineral supplement intake, ambient temperature and relative humidity were recorded daily, whereas BW and body condition score were measured weekly. Dry matter intake, total water intake and total sodium intake were significantly (P<0.001) higher during the treatment phase. Body weight and body condition were not affected by saline water intake. Across the treatment phase, saline water consumption was significantly (P<0.001) lower in young (19.6±27.1 g/kg BW0.82 per day) than in adult goats (27.9±31.5 g/kg BW0.82 per day), indicating that young goats were more sensitive towards the saline water. All goats had a significant preference for fresh water (0% salt) over saline water. At the first offering of the simultaneous choice situation (week 2), animals did not differentiate between the salt concentration of 0.75% and 1.0%. However, with successive treatment (weeks 3 and 4), animals distinguished between saline water concentrations and preferred the 0.75% salt concentration. Salt concentrations of 1% to 1.5% were avoided. The total sodium intake of the goats ranged between 0.37 and 0.55 g /kg BW0.75 per day during the treatment phase, being 8- to 11-fold higher than the daily requirements of sodium for body maintenance. The results suggest that goats are able to differentiate between saline water concentrations and to adjust their sodium intake by quick adjustments in self-selection in a free-choice system. Compared with two-choice preference tests, the present free-choice situation allows evaluating changes in saline water acceptance with prolonged exposure.

Keywords

salt tolerancewater intakeadaptationsodium intakeruminant
Type
Research Article
Information
animal , Volume 13 , Issue 1 , January 2019 , pp. 98 - 105
Copyright
© The Animal Consortium 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bell, FR 1959. Preference thresholds for taste discrimination in goats. Journal of Agricultural Science 52, 125–128.Google Scholar
Bell, FR and Williams, HL 1959. Threshold values for taste in monozygotic twin calves. Nature 183, 345–346.Google Scholar
Denton, DA and Sabine, JR 1961. The selective appetite for Na+ shown by Na+ deficient sheep. The Journal of Physiology 167, 97–116.Google Scholar
Digby, SN, Chadwick, MA and Blache, D 2011. Salt intake and reproductive function in sheep. Animal 5, 1207–1216.Google Scholar
Emmans, GC 1977. The nutrient intake of laying hens given a choice of diets, in relation to their production requirements. British Poultry Science 18, 227–236.Google Scholar
Fedele, V, Claps, S, Rubino, R, Calandrelli, M and Pilla, AM 2002. Effect of free-choice and traditional feeding systems on goat feeding behaviour and intake. Livestock Production Science 74, 19–31.Google Scholar
Fukunaga, A, Uematsu, H and Sugimoto, K 2005. Influences of aging on taste perception and oral somatic sensation. The Journals of Gerontology A 60, 109–113.Google Scholar
Gesellschaft für Ernährungsphysiologie/Society of Nutrition Physiology 2009. New equations for predicting metabolisable energy of compound feeds for ruminants. Proceedings of the Society of Nutrition Physiology 18, 143–146.Google Scholar
Goatcher, WD and Church, DC 1970a. Taste responses in ruminants. I. Reactions of sheep to sugars, saccharin, ethanol and salts. Journal of Animal Science 30, 777–783.Google Scholar
Goatcher, WD and Church, DC 1970b. Taste responses in ruminants. III. Reactions of pygmy goats, normal goats, sheep and cattle to sucrose and sodium chloride. Journal of Animal Science 31, 364–372.Google Scholar
Grovum, WL and Chapman, HW 1988. Factors affecting the voluntary intake of food by sheep. 4. The effect of additives representing the primary tastes on sham intakes by oesophageally fistulated sheep. British Journal of Nutrition 59, 63–72.Google Scholar
Grzegorczyk, PB, Jones, SW and Mistretta, CM 1979. Age-related differences in salt taste acuity. Journal of Gerontology 34, 834–840.Google Scholar
Jeroch, H, Drochner, W and Simon, O 2007. Ernährung landwirtschaftlicher Nutztiere, 2nd edition. UTB Ulmer, Stuttgart, Germany.Google Scholar
Kattnig, RM, Pordomingo, AJ, Schneberger, AG, Duff, GC and Wallace, JD 1992. Influence of saline water on intake, digesta kinetics, and serum profiles of steers. Journal of Range Management 45, 514–518.Google Scholar
Kii, WY and Dryden, GMcL 2005. Effect of drinking saline water on food and water intake, food digestibility, and nitrogen and mineral balances of rusa deer stags (Cervus timorensis russa). Animal Science 81, 99–105.Google Scholar
Kyriazakis, I and Oldham, JD 1993. Diet selection in sheep: the ability of growing lambs to select a diet that meets their crude protein (nitrogen x 6.25) requirements. British Journal of Nutrition 69, 617–629.Google Scholar
Langbein, J, Scheibe, KM and Eichhorn, K 1998. Investigations on periparturient behaviour in free-ranging mouflon sheep (Ovis orientalis musimon). Journal of Zoology 244, 553–561.Google Scholar
Langbein, J, Siebert, K, Nürnberg, G and Manteuffel, G 2007. Learning to learn during visual discrimination in group housed dwarf goats (Capra hircus). Journal of Comparative Psychology 121, 447–456.Google Scholar
Masters, DG, Rintoul, AJ, Dynes, RA, Pearce, KL and Norman, HC 2005. Feed intake and production in sheep fed diets high in sodium and potassium. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 56, 427–434.Google Scholar
Mdletshe, ZM, Chimonyo, M, Marufu, MC and Nsahlai, IV 2017. Effects of saline water consumption on physiological responses in Nguni goats. Small Ruminant Research 153, 209–211.Google Scholar
Menke, K, Raab, L, Salewski, A, Steingass, H, Fritz, D and Schneider, W 1979. The estimation of the digestibility and metabolizable energy content of ruminant feedingstuffs from the gas production when they are incubated with rumen liquor in vitro. The Journal of Agricultural Science 93, 217–222.Google Scholar
Mongin, P 1981. Recent advances in dietary anion–cation balance applications in poultry. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 40, 285–294.Google Scholar
National Research Council (NRC) 2007. Nutrient requirement of small ruminants: sheep, goats, cervids and new world camelids. National Research Council, National Academic Press, Washington, DC, USA.Google Scholar
Patton, HD and Ruch, TC 1944. Preference thresholds for quinine hydrochloride in chimpanzee, monkey and rat. Journal of Comparative Psychology 37, 35–49.Google Scholar
Peirce, AW 1957. Studies on salt tolerance of sheep. I. The tolerance of sheep for sodium chloride in the drinking water. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 8, 711–722.Google Scholar
Riek, A and Gerken, M 2010. Estimating total body water content in suckling and lactating llamas (Lama glama) by isotope dilution. Tropical Animal Health and Production 42, 1189–1193.Google Scholar
Ru, YJ, Fischer, M, Glatz, PC and Bao, YM 2004. Effect of salt level in the feed on performance of red and fallow weaner deer. Asian-Australian Journal of Animal Science 17, 638–642.Google Scholar
Sherwood, L, Klandorf, H and Yancey, PH 2005. Digestive systems. In Animal physiology from genes to organisms (ed. M Julet, E Howe and E Feldman), pp. 612–669. Thomson Brooks/Cole, Belmont, CA, USA.Google Scholar
Smith, SE, Lengemann, EW and Reid, JT 1953. Block vs. loose salt consumption by dairy cattle. Journal of Dairy Science 36, 762–765.Google Scholar
Suttle, NF 2010. Sodium and chloride. In Mineral nutrition of livestock, 4th edition (ed. NF Suttle), pp. 182–205. CABI Publishing, Wallingford, UK.Google Scholar
Underwood, EJ 1981. The mineral nutrition of livestock, 2nd edition. Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, Slough, UK.Google Scholar
Verband Deutscher Landwirtschaftlicher Untersuchungs- und Forschungsanstalten (VDLUFA) 2012. Handbuch der landwirtschaftlichen versuchs- und untersuchungsmethodik VDLUFA-methodenbuch). Die chemische untersuchung von futtermitteln Bd. III. VDLUFA-Verlag, Darmstadt, Germany.Google Scholar
Villaquiran, M, Gipson, TA, Merkel, RC, Goetsch, AL and Sahlu, T 2007. Body condition scores in goats. In Proceedings of the 22nd Annual Goat Field Day, 28 April 2007, Langston University, Langston, OK, USA, pp. 125–131.Google Scholar
Wilson, AD 1966a. The intake and excretion of sodium by sheep fed on species of Atriplex (saltbush) and Kochia (bluebush). Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 17, 155–163.Google Scholar
Wilson, AD 1966b. The tolerance of sheep to sodium chloride in food or drinking water. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 17, 503–514.Google Scholar
Wilson, AD and Dudzinski, ML 1973. Influence of the concentration and volume of saline water on the food intake of sheep and on their excretion of sodium and water in urine and faeces. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 17, 245–256.Google Scholar
Wilson, RT 1989. Water balance and kidney function. In Ecophsiology of the camelidae and desert ruminants (ed. JL Cloudsley-Thompson), pp. 42–92. Springer-Verlag: Berlin, Germany.Google Scholar
Zhang, Y, Cao, QS, Rubenstein, DI, Zang, S, Songer, M, Leimgruber, P, Chu, H, Cao, J, Li, K and Hu, D 2015. Water use patterns of sympatric Przewalski’s horse and khulan: interspecific comparison reveals niche differences. PLoS ONE 10, e0132094.Google Scholar