Table 4.
Effects of age and water treatment on water intake, feed intake, and apparent total tract diet digestibility
| Age | Water treatment1 | P-value | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Item2 | Heifer | Cow | Control | 50 BRW | 50 SLW | 100 BRW | 100 SLW | SEM3 | Age | Treatment | Age × Treatment |
| Intake | |||||||||||
| BW, kg | 310.4 | 604.2 | 457.5 | 458.1 | 460.1 | 454.4 | 456.5 | 14.0 | <0.001 | 0.81 | 0.83 |
| Water, kg/d | 44.2 | 72.6 | 60.9 | 55.4 | 59.0 | 55.5 | 61.2 | 2.29 | <0.001 | 0.10 | 0.71 |
| Water, g/kg BW | 144.9 | 120.7 | 139.2 | 126.9 | 132.6 | 126.8 | 138.6 | 5.72 | 0.006 | 0.28 | 0.70 |
| DM, kg/d | 12.6 | 22.1 | 18.0 | 17.5 | 17.3 | 16.8 | 17.0 | 0.59 | <0.001 | 0.37 | 0.21 |
| DM, g/kg BW | 40.5 | 36.4 | 40.1 | 38.5 | 37.4 | 38.0 | 38.2 | 1.08 | 0.02 | 0.31 | 0.09 |
| OM, kg/d | 11.1 | 19.5 | 15.9 | 15.4 | 15.2 | 14.8 | 15.0 | 0.52 | <0.001 | 0.37 | 0.20 |
| DOM, kg/d | 6.83 | 12.1 | 9.76 | 9.50 | 9.45 | 9.3 | 9.3 | 0.40 | <0.001 | 0.83 | 0.69 |
| Digestibility | |||||||||||
| DM, % | 60.9 | 61.5 | 61.3 | 60.9 | 61.1 | 61.4 | 61.4 | 0.32 | 0.11 | 0.77 | 0.44 |
| OM, % | 61.0 | 61.7 | 61.1 | 60.9 | 61.6 | 61.9 | 61.4 | 0.80 | 0.51 | 0.87 | 0.83 |
| NDF, % | 55.9 | 57.6 | 57.9 | 55.2 | 55.0 | 58.7 | 57.0 | 2.48 | 0.50 | 0.77 | 0.40 |
| ADF, % | 52.2 | 53.9 | 54.3 | 51.1 | 51.3 | 55.2 | 53.3 | 2.71 | 0.56 | 0.75 | 0.43 |
| CP, % | 91.5 | 86.1 | 88.9 | 88.4 | 88.4 | 89.3 | 89.1 | 0.48 | <0.001 | 0.61 | 0.28 |
| EE, % | 41.9 | 46.1 | 49.1 | 38.9 | 37.0 | 46.5 | 48.4 | 4.34 | 0.30 | 0.18 | 0.16 |
1Treatment: Control, fresh water; 50 SLW, 50% NaCl and 50% fresh water; 50 BRW, 50% brackish water and 50% fresh water; 100 BRW, 100% brackish water; 100 SLW, 100% NaCl water.
2ADF, acid detergent fiber; BW, body weight; CP, crude protein; DM, dry matter; DOM, digestible organic matter; EE, ether extract; NDF, neutral detergent fiber; OM, organic matter.
3SEM, pooled standard error.