Effect of Drinking-Water Temperature upon Ruminant Digestion, Intraruminal Temperature, and Water Consumption of Nonlactating Dairy Cows

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Abstract
Two digestion trials of Latin-square design were conducted with 4 fistulated, nonlactating Holstein cows to determine the influence of 34, 57, 80, and 103 F water at average environmental temperatures of 53 [plus or minus] t 9.92 (Trial I) and 27 F [plus or minus] 12.20 (Trial II). Animals were fed bromegrass-alfalfa hay twice daily and received water 2 hrs after feeding. Rumen and rectal temperatures were measured with thermocouples. Ruminal temperature depression depended upon amount and temperature of ingested water. An average of 16 recordings indicated that 46.4 [plus or minus] 8.6 lb of ingested 34 F water depressed the lower, middle, and upper rumen temperature by 23.1 [plus or minus] 9.5, 10.3 [plus or minus] 5.4, and 2.3 [plus or minus] 1.6 F, respectively, within 10 min, while the rectal temperature was depressed 0.50 F within 20 min during Trial II. When water consumption data from both trials were combined, a significant treatment effect was observed (P[image] 0.05). No significant differences were found between the coefficients of digestible dry matter (DDM), digestible energy (DE), digestible crude protein (DCP), or small-sample in vivo digestion values during Trials I or II (P [image] 0.05).