Impacts of saline water stress on livestock production [electronic resource]: a review

Includes bibliographic reference

Limited freshwater resources and climatic change are major challenge face animal production industry, especially in the arid and semiarid regions.
Climate changes are reflected in global warming and rainfall reduction, which in turn may increase the salinity of both soil and water.
Within the reclamation strategy, groundwater will be the main source of used water in cultivated desert lands in Egypt.
However, the groundwater has high salinity and the cost of desalination is expensive. This review gives an overview of the
impact of using saline water as an alternative source of fresh water to avoid water scarcity effect on the performance,
carcass traits, and meat quality of farm animals. The ability of animals to tolerate saline water depends on the animal species,
salinity level and the type of salt minerals in water. Some studies indicated that the animals' performance improved in low levels
of salinity, but the performance decreased when the salinity levels was increased. In conclusion, this study implies that the saline water
containing high concentrations of minerals mainly sodium chloride can largely affect the livestock productive aspects.
Key words: Water quality, Ground water, Climatic change, Total dissolved solids, Livestock

Summary in Arabic