Vol. 7, Issue 6 (2018)

Author(s):
Preeti, Rohit Kumar, Jagish Kour Reen, Sushma and Neelam Kewalramani

Abstract:
Eight growing male Murrah calves, average 220±5 kg body weight, were randomly assigned to three treatments consisting of water containing different levels of total dissolved solids (TDS; mg/l): Control=500; Treatment =2,000 and were fed as per ICAR 2013 at National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), Karnal India (29^o 42” N latitude) during winter. Animals were arranged in a randomized complete block design for 120 days, with 1 week for water adaptation. Water intake was recorded daily and rumen fermentation parameters were evaluated at monthly interval. Water intake was higher for animals receiving 2,000 mg/l TDS (17.43 l/day) in the drinking water. No treatment effects were observed in any of the variable of rumen fluid study, with the exception of ammonia nitrogen which was decreased significantly (P<0.05). It was concluded that the rumen presents a surprising buffer capacity which resists changes in rumen fermentation parameters at 2000 ppm TDS, so it was concluded that TDS alone is insufficient to characterize drinking water quality for animals.