Water and feed intakes, weight gain and plasma stress hormones of growing Boer crossbred and Bach Thao goats consuming with diluted seawater

Nguyen Thiet and Sumpun Thammacharoen¹

College of Rural Development, Can Tho University, Can Tho City, Vietnam
nthiet@ctu.edu.vn
¹ Faculty of Veterinary Science, Chulalongkorn University, HenriDunang street, Bangkok 10330, Thailand

Abstract

The experiment was to evaluate the effect of high saline water and goat breeds on intakes, weight gain and stress hormones. This study was conducted on 20 goats consisting of 10 Bach Thao goats with an average body weight of 16.46 kg and 10 Boer crossbred goats, with an average body weight of 21.60 kg. The experiment was a completely randomized design and the treatment arrangement was a 2 × 2 factorial, first factor is breeds (Bach Thao and Boer crossbred goats) and second factor is diluted seawater levels (fresh water, DSW0.0 and 1.5% diluted seawater, DSW1.5). The results showed that there was an effect of diluted seawater on dry matter intake (DMI), water intake (WI) and weight gain in Boer crossbred goats. But diluted seawater in drinking water did not effect on DMI and weight gain in Bach Thao goats. Plasma cortisol and HSP70 concentrations were not affected by breed or diluted seawater. The current study suggested that Bach Thao goats were more tolerant with diluted seawater than Boer crossbred goats.

Key words: diluted seawater, feed intake, goats, production

Introduction

Stress factors such as environmental condition, nutrition, disease and salinity in drinking water can influence on animal production in tropical countries. In Vietnam, ruminant appear to confront with prolong high ambient temperature condition in the hot season. This condition could alter stress hormonal responses such as heat shock protein 60 (HSP60), HSP70 and HSP90 concentrations (Dangi et al., 2012) or plasma cortisol level. Besides, Mekong River Delta (MRD) area, Vietnam also has a risk with salinity intrusion due to the sea level rise in the recent years and changes in sea level can affect on coastal surface water and groundwater. In 2016 coastal provinces in the MRD the salinity level was measured in some rivers from 0.6-1.5% total dissolved salts (TDS). Besides that, farmer in the coastal provinces in MRD prefer to take care the Boer crossbred and Bach Thao goats, so they are predominant goats in this area. Nguyen et al. (2022a) reported that growing Boer crossbred goats drank with 1.5% saline water increased water intake (WI) and decreased dry matter intake (DMI), nutrient digestibility and weight gain. In addition, Bach Thao goats can be tolerant with saline water up to 1.0% without effects on DMI and thermoregulation (Nguyen et al., 2022b), whereas Nassar and Mousa (1981) found that goats could accept 1.5% NaCl in drinking water. The results from previous studies indicated that there may be different responses between goat breeds in their tolerance to salinity. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to evaluate the effect of high saline water and goat breeds on intakes, weight gain and stress hormones in growing goats.

Materials and method

Experimental design and animal care

The experiment was conducted on 20 goats at about 6 months age, consisting of 10 Bach Thao goats with an average body weight of 16.46 kg and 10 Boer crossbred goats, with an average body weight of 21.60 kg. The experiment was a completely randomized design and the treatment arrangement was a 2 × 2 factorial, first factor is breeds (Bach Thao and Boer crossbred goats) and second factor is diluted seawater levels (fresh water, DSW0.0 and 1.5% diluted seawater, DSW1.5). The experiment used concentrated seawater (9 %) mixed with fresh water to achieve water with a salt concentration of 1.5 %, according to the formula C₁V₁ = C₂V₂ (where C ₁ is the concentration of the starting solution; V₁ is the volume of the starting solution; C₂ is the concentration of the final solution an V₂ is the volume of the final solution) and then checked by a refractometer (Master S28M, Atago, Japan). This experiment was lasted for 21 days with 7 days for adaptation and 14 days for data collection period. All goats were offered the same ration as total mix ration with 70% maize silage and 30% concentrate. The ingredients, chemical compositions of the ration and water sample were similar to our previous experiment (Nguyen et al., 2022a). The animal received the experimental diet, twice daily at 08:00 and 14:00 h and had free access to water.

Data collection and analysis

Feed intake and water intake were daily recorded throughout the experiment (from day 1 to day 21). Feed offer and refusal samples were collected every day and divided into two parts; a half was immediately dried in oven at 105 ⁰C until constant to determine dry matter and remaining samples were kept frozen at – 20 ⁰C for later chemical analysis. At the end of experiment all feed samples were thawed and mixed thoroughly and subsamples were dried at 65 ⁰C overnight (about 12h) for crude protein (CP) and ash analysis according to AOAC (1990), neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) by the procedure of Van Soest et al. (1991). All goats were weighted at the beginning and the end of experiment, before morning feeding.

On day 21, blood samples from the jugular vein were collected at 07:00 h before morning feeding and then centrifuged at 3,000 rpm for 10 minutes. The plasma samples were stored at -20 ^oC for analysis of stress hormones (cortisol and HSP70). Plasma HSP70 and cortisol concentrations were determined using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit specific for multispecies hormone (MBS738005 for HSP70 and MBS739257, MyBioSource, San Diego, CA, USA). The sensitivity for HSP70 and cortisol assay was 0.1 and 1.0 ng/ml respectively. The intra-assay variation for HSP70 and cortisol measurement was 3.25% and 3.02% respectively.

Statistical analysis

The data were presented as the mean ± SEM. All data were analyzed with two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Significance of main effects or pairwise comparisions was performed by Tukey posttest. Significance was declared at p<0.05.

Results and discussion

Effect of diluted seawater and breed on dry matter intake, water intake and ratio of dry matter intake per water intake

The present result showed that there was no interaction on DMI between saline water and breed (Table 1; p>0.05). But DMI from saline water groups decreased as compared to fresh water groups (Table 1; p<0.05). Additionally, this study also presented that Boer crossbred goats ate more than Bach Thao goats. Runa et al. (2019) suggested that young goats are more sensitive with saline water than old goats. The goats from this study were young with 6 months old, therefore diluted seawater with 1.5% level may be sensitive on these goats. This result was confirmed by our previous studies that diluted seawater affected in growing goats, but were not from lactating crossbred goats (Nguyen et al., 2022a and 2022c). Moreover, some studies found that goats drank with low concentration of saline water (less than 1.0%) did not effect on DMI, but goats drank with saline water above 1.5% concentration decreased DMI (Abou Hussien et al., 1994; Zoidis and Hadjigeorgiou (2018).

There was an interaction between diluted seawater and breed on water intake in this experiment (Table 1; p<0.01). Boer crossbred goats from saline groups drank more water than control groups, but WI from Bach Thao goats was similar to between groups. This leaded to Boer crossbred goats drank diluted seawater are more salt loads than Bach Thao goats and may decrease DMI, follow by influence on weight gain from the goats (Table 2; P<0.05). Mdletshe et al. (2017) reported that goats adapted with high saline water by decreasing WI. Similarly, Eltayeb (2006) found that WI increased when Nubian goats drank saline water with concentrations of 0.8 – 1.6% as compared to fresh water, but WI from goats decreased when Nubian goats drank 2% saline water. This study suggests that WI depends on not only breed but also salinity levels in drinking water.

There was an interaction between diluted seawater and breed on ratio of dry matter intake per water intake (DMI/WI) in this experiment (Table 1; p<0.05). DMI/WI from Boer crossbred goats from fresh water groups was greater than other treatments. It means that goats consumed more feed and drink equally or less than others and it would improve the weight gain from this study (Table 1 and 2; p<0.05).

Effect of diluted seawater and breed on body weight and weight gain

No effect of interaction between breed and saline water on body weight (Table 2; p>0.05). But Boer crossbred goats were heavier than Bach Thao goats throughout the experiment. This study also showed that there was an interaction between diluted seawater and breed on weight gain (Table 2; p<0.05). Weight gain from Boer crossbred goats was higher than Bach Thao goats. Interestingly, Boer crossbred goats consumed diluted seawater decreased the gain as compared to drink fresh water. But weight gain from Bach Thao goats was not affected by diluted seawater in current study. Previous studies found that goat drank saline water with concentrations of 0 – 0,55% did not effect on weight gain, but weight gain decreased when goats consumed 1.1% saline water (Mdletshe et al., 2017; Nguyen et al., 2022a). Similarly, Yousfi and Salme (2017) reported that sheep used saline water with 0.7% level was not influence on weight gain. In contrast, weight gain from sheep decreased when sheep drank saline water with levels of 1.1 to 1.5%. The result from present study indicated that weight gain from goats affected not only by breed but also by level of salinity in drinking water.

Effect of diluted seawater and breed on plasma cortisol and HSP70 concentrations

There was no effect of breed and diluted seawater on plasma cortisol concentration (Table 3; p>0.05). This result was similar finding by Yirga et al. (2018) when growing goats drank with brackish water plus NaCl from 0.94 – 1.36%. The plasma cortisol level has been used to predict the level of stress in farm animals, but the results from present study did not show any difference among treatments. Additionally, the use of plasma cortisol as measurement of chronic stress might not be the best way. This would be confirmed by this study when we collected the blood sample on day 14 of experiment. The plasma cortisol concentration from this experiment varied from 169.33 to 198.29 ng/mL and was lower than in previous experiment (Biobaku et al., 2018). In contrast, some studies reported that cortisol levels in stressed animals ranged from 4.5 to 43.0 ng/mL (Du Preez, 2000; Ronchi et al., 2001) and much lower from the current experiment. The different plasma cortisol concentration between this study and other experiments may be different stress factors and duration.

At cellular level, the stress response is mediated via HSPs. In animals, a variation in HSP70 expression has been reported not only after exposure to thermal stress, but also as transportation stress or osmotic stress from saline water (Gauhan et al., 2013; Min et al., 2015). In the present experiment, plasma HSP70 concentration was not affected by breed and diluted seawater (Table 3; p>0.05). The result indicates that salinity stress did not increase HSP70 level in growing goats. Hafsa AL Yamani and Nazan Koluman (2020) reported that plasma HSP70 level of lactating goats in summer was higher than plasma HSP70 concentration in current study. The result suggested that plasma HSP70 level may be different between growing or lactating goats, not for breed or diluted seawater.

Conclusions

• There was no effect of diluted seawater on DMI and WI in Bach Thao goats. Therefore, Bach Thao goats drank diluted seawater with 1.5% level unchanged the body weight and gain as compared to consume fresh water. However, Boer crossbred goats drank diluted seawater with 1.5% level decreased DMI and weight gain. Plasma cortisol and HSP70 concentrations were not affected by breed or diluted seawater.

• The current study suggested that Bach Thao goats were more tolerant with diluted seawater than Boer crossbred goats. It recommends that the coastal areas in Mekong delta, Viet Nam should raise Bach Thao goats for sustainable livestock development.

Acknowledgments

This research is funded by the National foundation for Science and Technology development (Nafosted), Vietnam under grant number 106.05-2020.45 and the Ministry of Education and Training, Vietnam under grant number B2020-TCT-08.

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