Effects of water restriction on feed intake, digestion, and energy utilization by mature female St. Croix sheep

Eleven St. Croix ewes (46.9 ± 1.59 kg BW and 3.6 ± 0.67 yr age) were used in a crossover design to evaluate effects of restricted drinking water availability on intake of a 50% concentrate diet, digestion, and energy utilization. After 2 wk to determine ad libitum water consumption, there were two 4-wk periods, with measures in metabolism cages during wk 4. One treatment was water offered at the ad libitum level (CONT) and the other entailed a 25% reduction in wk 1 and 50% thereafter (REST). Although, some water was refused in wk 4, with intake of 2556 and 1707 g/day for CONT and REST, respectively (SEM=170.9). Digestibility of gross energy was greater (P = 0.034) for REST than for CONT (66.5 vs. 62.4%; SEM=1.16); however, because of a numerical difference (P = 0.448) in energy intake (15.79 and 14.66 MJ/day for CONT and REST, respectively; SEM=1.426 MJ/day), digested energy intake was similar between treatments (P = 0.870). Urinary energy was greater (P = 0.023) for CONT vs. REST (0.62 and 0.52 MJ/day; SEM=0.038) and methane energy did not differ (P = 0.213) between treatments (0.76 and 0.89 MJ/day; SEM=0.084), resulting in similar (P = 0.665) ME intake (8.50 and 8.01 MJ/day for CONT and REST, respectively; SEM=0.855). Both heat (8.60 and 8.33 MJ/day; SEM=0.437) and recovered energy (-0.10 and -0.30 MJ/day for CONT and REST, respectively; SEM=0.623) were similar between treatments (P ≥ 0.880). In conclusion, increased digestibility appears an important adaptive response to limited availability of drinking water.