The objective of this study was evaluate the efficiency in water and food use in sheep production, using two new traits (residual water intake - RWI; residual feed and residual water intake - RFRWI). For this purpose, we evaluated the relationships between the traits total water intake, RWI and RFRWI with water measures, productive performance and carcass traits (ultrasound). We used 32 lambs with age of 3 months: 16 Santa Ines breed (8 males and 8 females) and 16 crossbred 7/8 Dorper x Santa Ines (8 males and 8 females). They were fed at an automated feed and water station (Intergado®), where the food and water intake by each animal was measured automatically. Residual water intake (RWI), residual feed intake (RFI) and residual body weight gain (RWG) were calculated using the MIXED procedure in SAS®. Correlation coefficients between total water intake (TWI), RWI and all traits (water measures, performance and carcass traits) were calculated using the CORR procedure (P ≤ 0.05). Total water intake showed mean 3.15 L/day during the study and the RWI ranged from 0.66 L to -0.89 L, which represents a difference of 1.55 L between the most and least efficient animal. There was positive correlation between less efficient animals in water consumption (positive RWI) and water intake (r = 0.31); total water intake in relation to dry matter intake (r = 0.36); total water intake in relation to mid-trial metabolic body weight (r = 0.26); residual feed and residual water intake (r = 0.99) and gain/feed ratio (r = 0.44). There was negative correlation between less efficient animal and dry matter intake in relation to body weight (r= -0.33) and feed conversion ratio (r= -0.44). The evaluation of the new variables, RWI and RFRWI, proved effective in identifying the most efficient animals in water use. Moreover, these findings open the possibility of considering the traits RWI and RFRWI in sheep selection, because performance and carcass traits are not adversely affected by selecting for these new traits.

这项研究的目的是利用两个新特性（残留水摄入量-RWI；残留饲料和残留水摄入量-RFRWI）来评估绵羊生产中水和食物的利用效率。为此，我们评估了总摄水量，RWI和RFRWI的性状与水分测量，生产性能和car体性状（超声波）之间的关系。我们使用了32只3个月大的羔羊：16头圣伊内斯品种（8头雄性和8头雌性）和16头7/8 Dorper x Santa Ines杂种（8头雄性和8头雌性）。他们在自动饲料和水站（Intergado®）喂食，在这里自动测量每只动物的食物和水摄入量。残留水摄入量（RWI），残留饲料摄入量（RFI）和残留体重增加量（RWG）使用SAS®中的MIXED程序进行计算。使用CORR程序计算总摄水量（TWI），RWI与所有性状（水量，性能和car体性状）之间的相关系数（P≤0.05）。在研究期间，总饮水量显示为平均3.15 L /天，RWI在0.66 L至-0.89 L范围内，这表示最有效和最不高效的动物相差1.55L。低效动物的耗水量（正RWI）与摄水量之间呈正相关（r = 0.31）；与干物质摄入量有关的总水分摄入量（r = 0.36）；与试验中代谢体重有关的总饮水量（r = 0.26）；剩余饲料和剩余水摄入量（r = 0.99）和增/饲比（r = 0.44）。低效动物和干物质摄入量与体重之间呈负相关（r = -0。33）和饲料转化率（r = -0.44）。事实证明，对新变量RWI和RFRWI的评估可以有效地识别出用水效率最高的动物。而且，这些发现为选择绵羊时考虑RWI和RFRWI性状提供了可能性，因为选择这些新性状不会对生产性能和car体性状产生不利影响。