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

Ke Zhang; Chao Li; Wen Bao; Mengmeng Guo; Qi Zhang; Yuxin Yang; Qifang Kou; Wenrui Gao; Xiaolong Wang; Zhaoxia Yang; Yulin Chen

doi:doi:10.11648/j.avs.20180604.12

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

Ke Zhang, Chao Li, Wen Bao, Mengmeng Guo, Qi Zhang, Yuxin Yang, Qifang Kou, Wenrui Gao, Xiaolong Wang, Zhaoxia Yang, Yulin Chen

Published in Animal and Veterinary Sciences (Volume 6, Issue 4)

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), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

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

References

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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

Ke Zhang

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ningxia Tan Sheep Farm, Hongsibu, China
Wenrui Gao

Shanbei Cashmere Goats Farm, Hengshan, China
Xiaolong Wang

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

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

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

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Plain Text BibTeX RIS

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

Copy | Download

@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}
}

Copy | Download

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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