Water scarcity is among key the challenges facing sheep production in the arid and semiarid areas, and is predicted to worsen in future. Despite sheep in dry areas being capable of surviving relatively long periods with little water, deficiency of this essential nutrient produces lightweight carcasses and dark, dry and less tender meat. Responses to impacts of water scarcity have often been reactive rather than proactive, focusing on crisis rather than risk management. To effectively minimise the impact of water scarcity on dryland sheep meat production and quality, water-scarce countries should adopt a new paradigm for water management aimed at risk reduction. This entails identification and adoption of a menu of local recovery and resilience interventions spanning the spectrum from management of water, feed and animals to human resources capacitation. Most of the existing recovery and resilience strategies in water-scarce sheep producing countries have, however, not been widely adopted due to lack of evidence, resources, and adaptive capacity. The current review, therefore, discusses the impacts of water scarcity on sheep meat production and quality, and identifies a portfolio of local recovery and resilience strategies for adoption by dryland countries.

缺水是干旱和半干旱地区绵羊生产面临的主要挑战之一，并且预计将来还会加剧。尽管干旱地区的绵羊能够在很少的水分下存活相对较长的时间，但这种必需营养素的缺乏会产生轻质的car体和深色，干燥且鲜嫩的肉。对缺水影响的反应通常是被动的而不是主动的，重点是危机而不是风险管理。为了有效地减少缺水对旱地绵羊肉产量和质量的影响，缺水国家应采取新的水管理范式，以降低风险。这需要确定和采用一系列菜单，包括水管理中的频谱，本地恢复和抵御能力干预措施，饲料和动物对人力资源的获能。然而，由于缺乏证据，资源和适应能力，在缺水的绵羊生产国中，大多数现有的恢复和复原力策略尚未得到广泛采用。因此，本次审查讨论了缺水对绵羊肉生产和质量的影响，并确定了一系列当地恢复和复原力战略，供旱地国家采用。