The Quality Determination of Water Sources for Sheep and Goats in Ardestan and Naien Semi-arid Rangelands

An adequate supply of fresh, clean water is essential for successful sheep production. The most efficient sheep operation is planned around adequate, high- quality water supplies. In situations where water is not available at the feed sources, then water must be transported to the sheep. In arid and semi arid areas the water has the critical role in livestock breeding. The aim of this study was to determine the water quality of different water source supply (well, Ghanat and spring) for sheep and goat breeding in Naien and Ardestan rangelands. For this purpose the sampling of water was done in two seasons( Spring and winter)from different water source supplies(well, Ghanat and spring) in two areas ( Naien and Ardestan ) in two years( 2006 and 2007).A total of 19 water sample for each area were send to laboratory. Completely Randomized Design with Factorial test was used for this study that factors were: area (Naien and Ardestan), season (winter and spring) and water source supply (well, Ghanat and spring). The result of this study showed that the total dissolved solids (TDS) in Ardestan livestock water source supply was significantly upper than Naien (p0.05) but bacterial number per 100 (MPN)in Ardestan water sources was lower than Naien (p0.05). As the hardness of water in two area was upper than 600 mg/L, the water source supply in these two ranges was classified as very hard water as water hardness guidelines. As the TDS in these two area are upper than 2000 mg/L, water have limited use for livestock (refered as poor quality). The chloride (normal range 360 mg/ L) and sulphate (normal range 60-120 mg/L): in Naien and Ardestan water source supply were upper than the recommended maximum concentration in livestock drinking water. The Magnesium concentration in the Ghanat and well water source was upper than standard level (60 -120 mg/L) in summer. The concentration of heavy metals was lower than the recommended concentration in livestock drinking water. The concentration of Nitrate and Nitrite was not main problem in these rangelands. The MPN in water sources of Naien (615.47±58.22) was above the recommended level (500) and upper than that of Ardestan (365.51±55.92) for livestock (p0.05). According the result of this study for minimizing the drinking water pollution with animal feces and environmental contaminants, the ponds or troughs should be covered or fencing off. Key words: Sheep, Goat, Water quality, Season, well, Ghanat, Spring, Ardestan, Naien.