Climate change and water availability for livestock: Impact on both quality and quantity

Abstract

Water is an essential production factor in agriculture, both for crops and for livestock. Climate change will have a signifi cant impact on agriculture in terms of affecting both water quantity and quality. It is known that changing climate will affect the water resource availability and global hydrological cycle. Livestock particularly in arid and semiarid region are mostly reared under extensive or traditional pastoral farming systems. The animals have different water requirements in different ambient temperatures. The requirement of water varies breed to breed according to their adaptability in a particular region and ambient temperature. Livestock of arid and semiarid region face the problem of water scarcity in most of the time of the year. So the animals need to take adaptive mechanism to overcome the water deprivation in different physiological stages. The animals exhibit several adaptive mechanisms to cope up to the less availability of water. These mechanisms include reduced plasma and urine volume, reduced faecal moisture, reduced body weight and reduced feed intake. The blood biochemical changes include increased haemoglobin, increased blood cholesterol and urea concentration, reduced protein concentration and increased sodium and potassium concentration. The endocrine changes include increased cortisol and reduced insulin, T 3, T 4 and leptin concentration in livestock. In addition, water deprivation in rumen also plays an important role in maintaining homeostasis in adapted animals. An adequate and safe water supply is essential for the normal and healthy production of livestock. Generally, surface or groundwater is supplied to the animals. This water source should be protected from microorganisms, chemicals and other pollutant contaminations. Keeping in view the adverse water scarcity predicted in the future, strategies have to be developed to improve water-use effi ciency and conservation for diversifi ed production system in different locations. More research is needed into water resources’ vulnerability to climate change and in order to support the development of adaptive strategies for agriculture.