This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of water deprivation and drinking saline water on the performance, blood metabolites, and nutrient digestibility of Baluchi lambs. To this aim, 20 lambs, 170 ± 5 days of age, and with 31 ± 2.8 kg bodyweight, were assigned to four groups according to a completely randomized design with a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement of treatments: 1) free access to water during the day with a low total dissolved solids (TDS) concentration, 2) access to half their pervious ad libitum water intake with a low TDS concentration, 3) free access to water during the day with a high TDS concentration and 4) access to half their pervious ad libitum water intake with high TDS concentration and the experiment lasted 42 days. Results showed that the restricted access to water led to significant effect on dry-matter intake, average daily gain, water consumption and ratio of water consumption to feed intake, aldosterone hormone, serum blood urea nitrogen (BUN), cholesterol, triglyceride, packed cell volume (PCV) concentration, serum chloride, potassium and sodium, rumen pH, digestibility of acid detergent fiber (ADF), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), crude protein (CP) and organic matter, fecal output and urine exertion (P<0.05). Also drinking saline water had significant effects on dry-matter intake, average daily gain, water consumption and ratio of water consumption to feed intake, serum sodium and urine exertion (P<0.05), while either water restriction nor saline water had any significant effect on other measured parameters of experimental-group lambs (P>0.05). The results indicated that lambs can subsist under water deprivation and drinking saline water for at least 28 days without harmful effects.

Keywords