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Regional Assessment of the Virtual Water of Sheep and Goats in Arid Areas

Received: 13 August 2018     Accepted: 29 August 2018     Published: 13 October 2018
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Abstract

The increased consumption of livestock products is likely to put further pressure on the world’s freshwater resources, an agricultural virtual water strategy will alleviate the water resources pressure of livestock husbandry, especially in arid areas. The research on the virtual water requirement of living animals is still blank in China. Most of the researches on the virtual water of animal products in China adopt foreign data and there is some error with the actual situation in China. In this study, the virtual water requirements of sheep and goats (n=80) in North China were evaluated and validated. Factors that affect animals’ virtual water requirements and the water supply for sheep and goat management were analyzed. We found that the virtual water productivity in sheep at five growth stages (40-day-old [D40], 6-month [M6], 12-month-old [M12], 24-month-old [M24], and 36-month-old [M36]) was lower than that in goats. The amount of virtual water requirements was 496.07 m3 from birth to M36 in sheep and was 217.14 m3 in goats. The water consumes were estimated to be 9 019.4 m3 /t in sheep and 4 825.3m3 /t in goats. The virtual water requirement for feed accounted for more than 99% of the total water consumption. Daily water consumption in rams is larger than that in ewes. We found that the crop type and yield, the proportion of high water consumption feed raw material in complete diet pellets, as well as the flock structure are the three major factors influencing virtual water demand in animals. Our results provided strategies to reduce water consumption in animal husbandry industries in arid areas, and further show that the crop import trade strategies can be used to increase the import of high water-consuming crops, instead of the virtual water consumption of the sheep and goat industry output, thereby alleviating the pressure on local water resources.

Published in Animal and Veterinary Sciences (Volume 6, Issue 4)
DOI 10.11648/j.avs.20180604.12
Page(s) 58-66
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2018. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Virtual Water, Water Resource, Goat, Sheep, Animal Husbandry

References
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[3] Allan, J., Fortunately there are substitutes for water otherwise our hydro-political futures would be impossible. Priorities for water resources allocation and management, 1993. 13: p. 26.
[4] Allan, J., Overall perspectives on countries and regions. Rogers, P. and Lydon, P. Water in the Arab World: perspectives and prognoses, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1994: p. 65-100.
[5] Allan, J. A., Virtual water-the water, food, and trade nexus. Useful concept or misleading metaphor? Water international, 2003. 28 (1): p. 106-113.
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[13] Chapagain, A. and A. Hoekstra. Virtual water trade: A quantification of virtual water flows between nations in relation to international trade of livestock and livestock products. in Virtual water trade. Proceedings of the international expert meeting on virtual water trade. 2003. UNESCO-IHE (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization-Institute for Water Education), Delft, The Netherlands.
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[17] Wilhite, D. A., A methodology for drought preparedness. Natural Hazards, 1996. 13 (3): p. 229-252.
[18] Descheemaeker, K., T. Amede, and A. Haileslassie, Improving water productivity in mixed crop–livestock farming systems of sub-Saharan Africa. Agricultural water management, 2010. 97 (5): p. 579-586.
[19] Rockström, J. and J. Barron, Water productivity in rainfed systems: overview of challenges and analysis of opportunities in water scarcity prone savannahs. Irrigation Science, 2007. 25 (3): p. 299-311.
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  • APA Style

    Ke Zhang, Chao Li, Wen Bao, Mengmeng Guo, Qi Zhang, et al. (2018). Regional Assessment of the Virtual Water of Sheep and Goats in Arid Areas. Animal and Veterinary Sciences, 6(4), 58-66. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.avs.20180604.12

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    ACS Style

    Ke Zhang; Chao Li; Wen Bao; Mengmeng Guo; Qi Zhang, et al. Regional Assessment of the Virtual Water of Sheep and Goats in Arid Areas. Anim. Vet. Sci. 2018, 6(4), 58-66. doi: 10.11648/j.avs.20180604.12

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    AMA Style

    Ke Zhang, Chao Li, Wen Bao, Mengmeng Guo, Qi Zhang, et al. Regional Assessment of the Virtual Water of Sheep and Goats in Arid Areas. Anim Vet Sci. 2018;6(4):58-66. doi: 10.11648/j.avs.20180604.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.avs.20180604.12,
      author = {Ke Zhang and Chao Li and Wen Bao and Mengmeng Guo and Qi Zhang and Yuxin Yang and Qifang Kou and Wenrui Gao and Xiaolong Wang and Zhaoxia Yang and Yulin Chen},
      title = {Regional Assessment of the Virtual Water of Sheep and Goats in Arid Areas},
      journal = {Animal and Veterinary Sciences},
      volume = {6},
      number = {4},
      pages = {58-66},
      doi = {10.11648/j.avs.20180604.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.avs.20180604.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.avs.20180604.12},
      abstract = {The increased consumption of livestock products is likely to put further pressure on the world’s freshwater resources, an agricultural virtual water strategy will alleviate the water resources pressure of livestock husbandry, especially in arid areas. The research on the virtual water requirement of living animals is still blank in China. Most of the researches on the virtual water of animal products in China adopt foreign data and there is some error with the actual situation in China. In this study, the virtual water requirements of sheep and goats (n=80) in North China were evaluated and validated. Factors that affect animals’ virtual water requirements and the water supply for sheep and goat management were analyzed. We found that the virtual water productivity in sheep at five growth stages (40-day-old [D40], 6-month [M6], 12-month-old [M12], 24-month-old [M24], and 36-month-old [M36]) was lower than that in goats. The amount of virtual water requirements was 496.07 m3 from birth to M36 in sheep and was 217.14 m3 in goats. The water consumes were estimated to be 9 019.4 m3 /t in sheep and 4 825.3m3 /t in goats. The virtual water requirement for feed accounted for more than 99% of the total water consumption. Daily water consumption in rams is larger than that in ewes. We found that the crop type and yield, the proportion of high water consumption feed raw material in complete diet pellets, as well as the flock structure are the three major factors influencing virtual water demand in animals. Our results provided strategies to reduce water consumption in animal husbandry industries in arid areas, and further show that the crop import trade strategies can be used to increase the import of high water-consuming crops, instead of the virtual water consumption of the sheep and goat industry output, thereby alleviating the pressure on local water resources.},
     year = {2018}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Regional Assessment of the Virtual Water of Sheep and Goats in Arid Areas
    AU  - Ke Zhang
    AU  - Chao Li
    AU  - Wen Bao
    AU  - Mengmeng Guo
    AU  - Qi Zhang
    AU  - Yuxin Yang
    AU  - Qifang Kou
    AU  - Wenrui Gao
    AU  - Xiaolong Wang
    AU  - Zhaoxia Yang
    AU  - Yulin Chen
    Y1  - 2018/10/13
    PY  - 2018
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.avs.20180604.12
    DO  - 10.11648/j.avs.20180604.12
    T2  - Animal and Veterinary Sciences
    JF  - Animal and Veterinary Sciences
    JO  - Animal and Veterinary Sciences
    SP  - 58
    EP  - 66
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2328-5850
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.avs.20180604.12
    AB  - The increased consumption of livestock products is likely to put further pressure on the world’s freshwater resources, an agricultural virtual water strategy will alleviate the water resources pressure of livestock husbandry, especially in arid areas. The research on the virtual water requirement of living animals is still blank in China. Most of the researches on the virtual water of animal products in China adopt foreign data and there is some error with the actual situation in China. In this study, the virtual water requirements of sheep and goats (n=80) in North China were evaluated and validated. Factors that affect animals’ virtual water requirements and the water supply for sheep and goat management were analyzed. We found that the virtual water productivity in sheep at five growth stages (40-day-old [D40], 6-month [M6], 12-month-old [M12], 24-month-old [M24], and 36-month-old [M36]) was lower than that in goats. The amount of virtual water requirements was 496.07 m3 from birth to M36 in sheep and was 217.14 m3 in goats. The water consumes were estimated to be 9 019.4 m3 /t in sheep and 4 825.3m3 /t in goats. The virtual water requirement for feed accounted for more than 99% of the total water consumption. Daily water consumption in rams is larger than that in ewes. We found that the crop type and yield, the proportion of high water consumption feed raw material in complete diet pellets, as well as the flock structure are the three major factors influencing virtual water demand in animals. Our results provided strategies to reduce water consumption in animal husbandry industries in arid areas, and further show that the crop import trade strategies can be used to increase the import of high water-consuming crops, instead of the virtual water consumption of the sheep and goat industry output, thereby alleviating the pressure on local water resources.
    VL  - 6
    IS  - 4
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China

  • College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China

  • College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China

  • College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China

  • College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China

  • College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China

  • Ningxia Tan Sheep Farm, Hongsibu, China

  • Shanbei Cashmere Goats Farm, Hengshan, China

  • College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China

  • College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China

  • College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China

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