Water intake and excretion of West African dwarf sheep in southern Nigeria.
1984
Adegbola T.A. | Obioha F.C.
Water intake and excretion were investigated in three groups of West African dwarf sheep. The sheep were either caged or grazing. The caged sheep were fed grass with or without concentrate supplementation. The mean daily free and total water intakes were 337-478 g and 1703-1898 g respectively and of the total water intake 57.6%-66.3% was obtained from forage, 19.8%-27.8% from free water drunk and 12.5%-16.3% from metabolic water produced through oxidation of organic nutrients in the body. The main pathway of water excretion was through evaporative or insensible loss (80%-82%) and losses through the faeces and urine accounted for 5.7%-7.5% and 11.0%-12.6% respectively. Free and total water intake as percentages of live weight were 3.4%-4.7% and 16.9%-19.2%. Evaporative losses per kg weight and per sq.cm. of surface area were 136.2-156.1 g and 0.30-0.35 g. The correlation between free water intake on one hand and each of dry matter intake, live weight and surface area on the other hand was not significant (P/0.05). The present values would seem to indicate that the West African dwarf sheep require less water than other breeds of sheep of both temperate and tropical origin and much less than that of cattle.
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