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Effect of salt intake on feed intake
and growth rate of fallow and red weaner deerby Y. J. Ru, P. C. Glatz and Y. M. Bao
April 2004
RIRDC Publication No 04/054 RIRDC Project No SAR-26A
Fallow weaner deer were offered lucerne chaff containing 0, 1.5, 3.0, 4.5 and 6% salt with fresh water being available ad libitum. Increasing the salt level in the diet from 0 to 6% did not affect feed intake, osmotic pressure and mineral concentration in blood of fallow deer, but deer drank more water to regulate their sodium metabolism. Body weight tended to be lower (P=0.056) for fallow deer when salt content was over 3%, suggesting fallow weaner deer can ingest over 15 g sodium/day without significant depression in both feed intake and growth rate if fresh water is available. While feed intake and blood osmotic pressure were similar (P>0.05) for red deer fed different levels of salt, feed intake declined from 1.91 to 1.67 kg/day as salt level in the diet increased from 1.5% to 6.0%. However, the decline in feed intake was not reflected in body weight gain. More comprehensive research is required before recommendations on high levels of salt intake can be made to the industry.
Fallow deer did not show any abnormal behaviour or sickness when salt level in drinking water was increased from 0-2.5%. Feed intake was not affected until the salt content in water exceeded 1.5%.
Body weight gain was not affected by 1.2% salt in drinking water, but was reduced as salt content in water increased. These results suggest that fallow weaner deer can tolerate a salt level of 1.2% in drinking water.
Compared with deer on fresh water, the feed intake of red deer on saline water was 11-13% lower when salt level in drinking water was 0.4-0.8%. An increase in salt level in water up to 1% resulted in about a 30% reduction in feed intake (P<0.01). Body weight gain was significantly (P=0.004) reduced when salt level reached 1.2%. The deer on 1% salt tended to have a higher (P=0.052) osmotic pressure in serum. The concentration of P, K, Mg and S in serum was affected when salt level in water was over 1.0%.
The data obtained during this project also demonstrated that the data on salt tolerance derived from sheep may not be valid for deer and that a difference between red and fallow deer exists. When fresh water is available, fallow weaner deer can consume feed containing 3% salt. To maintain healthy growth, fallow weaner deer can tolerate 1.2% salt in the drinking water, but the red weaner deer can only tolerate 0.8%. The growth rate can be depressed when salt concentration in water is 1.5% for fallow weaners and 1.0% for red weaner deer.
The data obtained in this study can be immediately adopted by the deer farmers as guidelines for preventing excessive salt intake during the season. Farmers should not feed fallow deer feed/forage containing over 3% salt even if fresh water is available. The salt level in drinking water should be lower than 1.2% for fallow weaner deer and 0.8% for red weaner deer to avoid any reduction in feed intake. Deer farmers need to regularly test the salt levels in drinking water and forage on their farms to ensure that the salt intake of grazing deer is not over the levels that deer can tolerate.
 
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