| Abstrakt: |
More salt (offered ad libitum) and more water were consumed and more urine voided on pelleted than on ground alfalfa hay. The greater intake of both salt and water were attributable to form of forage per seand were independent of one another.Over a range of pelleted alfalfa intake from about maintenance to ad libitumintake, water intake was much more closely related to forage than to salt intake. The partitioning of water loss between urinary and other routes of disposal was much affected by level of forage intake; evaporative and fecal loss became more important, and urinary less so, as forage intake increased.The appetite for salt offered free choice decreased as the level of forage intake was increased to ad libitumintake. All levels of salt intake were much above requirements, and this result was considered more closely related to appetitence generally than to a physiological need for sodium or chloride.At levels of salt intake which did not exceed ad libitumintake, water intake and urine output were not related to salt consumption.Levels of salt eaten ad libitumby sheep depends to a degree on the level to which they have become accustomed. Appreciable individual differences in salt and water intake exist among individual sheep that are homogenous as to breed, sex, age and previous treatment. These individual differences in salt and water intakes, however, do not appear to be closely correlated. |
