Tolerance of Growing Cattle for Drinking Water Containing Sodium Chloride

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Abstract
In a winter change-over experiment, six heifers were offered drinking water containing 1.25, 1.50 and 1.75% NaCl. Experimental periods were 30 days long. A similar experiment was conducted during summer, using 0, 1 and 1.2% NaCl water. In the winter experiment, 1.75% NaCl caused symptoms of salt toxicity such as anorexia, decreased water consumption and reduced growth. Heifers merely maintained themselves on 1.50% NaCl and growth did not appear optimal on 1.25% salt water. Consumption of water containing 1.5 and 1.75% NaCl was 24.2 and 42.4%, respectively, lower than consumption of 1.25% salt water. Observations from the summer experiment indicate that heifers were unaffected by 1% NaCl water, but were adversely affected by 1.2%; yet, there were no symptoms of dehydration. Serum potassium and sodium were significantly increased by 1.2% salt water. Serum magnesium was decreased. Blood urea was decreased by both 1 and 1.2% NaCl. This may have been due to the increased water consumption on these treatments. There was a negative correlation (r=−.68) between water consumption and blood urea concentration. Water consumption was increased 46.6 and 69.0% by the addition of 1 and 1.2%, respectively, of NaCl to the drinking water.

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