Effect of hydric stress on intake, growth performance and nutritional status of Nguni goats

Figures & data

Table 1. Water supply and deprivation periods during the experiment for Nguni goats.

	Treatment (hours water restriction)
Period	0	24	48
Interval without water, days	0	1	2
Cumulative period with water access, days	40	20	13
Cumulative period without water access, days	0	20	27
Total time for data collection	40	40	40

Table 2. Chemical composition of Medicago sativa hay (as-fed basis).

Parameter	Value
Dry matter, g/kg	811
Gross energy, MJ/kg DM	17.7
Ash, g/kg DM	86.6
Crude protein, g/kg DM	189
Ether extracts, g/kg DM	12.2
Crude fibre, g/kg DM	287
Neutral detergent fibre, g/kg DM	398
Acid detergent fibre, g/kg DM	386

Table 3. Least square means for average daily water intake and average daily feed intake from Nguni goats subjected to varying periods of water deprivation over a four-week period of successive feeding.

Parameters	Week	Water deprivation (h)			SEM	p Value
		0	24	48
Average daily water intake (ADWI), mL/d	1	1789.0^a	1796.5^a	1880.6^b	39.65	.001
	2	1700.4^a	1681.1^a	1799.7^b	39.65	<.001
	3	1734.1^a	1812.2^b	1874.9^c	39.65	.001
	4	1871.8^a	1839.0^a	1914.4^b	39.65	.001
Average daily feed intake (ADFI), gDM/day	1	484.5^a	529.7^b	643.9^c	36.99	.001
	2	356.4^a	563.6^b	595.8^b	36.99	.001
	3	760.1^a	825.7^b	829.0^b	36.99	.001
	4	269.4^a	250.7^a	336.3^b	36.99	<.001
Water-to-feed ratio (WFR), g/mL	1	0.36^c	0.30^b	0.26^a	0.021	.001
	2	0.21^a	0.33^b	0.33^b	0.021	<.001
	3	0.44^a	0.46^a	0.45^a	0.021	.001
	4	0.15^a	0.14^a	0.18^b	0.021	<.001

^a,b,cValues with the different superscripts across the row are significantly different (p < .01).

Figure 1. Effect of water deprivation period on average daily gain and feed conversion ratio from Nguni goats; water deprivation label: 0 = 0 h; 1 = 24 h; 2 = 48 h. BW: body weight.

Table 4. Pearson’s correlation coefficients among growth performance parameters from Nguni goats.

Parameter	ADWI	ADFI	WTF ratio	ADG	FCR
Deprivation	NS	−0.18*	−0.18*	−0.38**	−0.37**
ADWI	–	NS	−0.30**	NS	NS
ADFI	–		0.97**	NS	0.25**
WFR	–	–	–	NS	0.22**
ADG	–	–	–	–	0.39**

Significance level: ** p < .01; * p < .05; NS, not significant (p > .05); ADWI: average daily water intake; ADFI: average daily feed intake; ADG: average daily gain; FCR: feed conversion ratio; WTF ratio: water-to-feed ratio.

Table 5. Least square means for body condition scoring, body weight, faecal egg counts, FAMACHA scores and selected blood metabolites of Nguni goats subjected to varying periods of water deprivation.

Parameter	Water deprivation, h				p Value
	0	24	48	SEM
Bodyweight, kg	22.1^c	17.5^b	14.8^a	1.25	.026
Body condition scores	3.1^b	2.6^a	2.4^a	0.20	.001
Faecal egg count, egg/g	2004^a	2375^ab	2996^b	350.0	.042
FAMACHA	2.9^b	2.9^b	2.6^a	0.10	.032
Blood metabolites	–	–	–	–	–
Glucose, mmol/L	3.4^a	4.1^b	4.4^b	0.20	.018
Creatinine, mmol/L	20.4^a	23.7^a	38.3^b	2.53	.045
Urea, mmol/L	1.2	1.1	1.2	0.10	.076
Cholesterol, mmol/L	2.8^a	4.2^b	5.0^b	0.55	.022

^a,b,cValues with different superscripts across the row are significantly different (p < .05);

Table 6. Pearson’s correlation coefficients among water deprivation period, BCS, body weight, faecal egg counts, FAMACHA and selected blood metabolites.

Parameter	BCS	BW	FEC	FAMACHA	Glucose	CK	UK	Cholesterol
Deprive	−0.40**	−0.54**	0.28**	−0.16*	NS	0.15*	NS	NS
BCS	–	0.15*	NS	NS	NS	NS	NS	NS
BW	–	–	−0.25**	NS	0.20*	NS	NS	NS
FEC	–	–	–	NS	−0.18*	NS	NS	NS
FAMACHA	–	–	–	–	NS	NS	NS	NS
Glucose	–	–	–	–	–	0.37**	NS	0.48**
CK	–	–	–	–	–	–	0.22*	0.55**
UK	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	0.44
Cholesterol	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–

**p < .01; *p < .05; NS: not significant (p > .05); deprive: water deprivation period; BCS: body condition scores; BW: body weight; FEC: faecal egg counts; CK: creatine kinase; UK: urea kinase.