STRATEGIC WATER SUPPLY OF ANIMALS DURING SUMMER, DROUGHT OR FLOODS FOR OPTIMAL PRODUCTION

Water is a most important commodity, whose availability is severely affected for the animals in drought condition. During summer large animal like buffalo/cattle need 80-100 lts of water per day for drinking and same amount needed for cleaning and bathing etc. If it is not available in required amount, precaution should be taken to avoid the wastage of water. Further the salt intake of the animal should be restricted and the water should be provided to animals in small quantity and more frequently. Amount and quality of water required vary between species, classes of animals within the species, and in the environment in which the livestock are living. Critical body weight for survival of animals is upto 20% of body weight loss in case of cattle, while in case of desert animals (sheep and camel) it may be upto 30 to 40%. As drought and floods are a regular phenomenon in our country, therefore we should have a mission mode project for water conservation, so that suitable means can be adopted for conservation and scientific