Beef production is one of the largest water consumers of all food production systems, but there are substantial knowledge gaps about the accounting and interpretation of its freshwater consumption. Moreover, hardly any study has assessed the freshwater fluxes related to beef cattle in integrated crop-livestock (ICL) and crop-livestock-forestry (ICLF) systems. We aimed at quantifying the freshwater fluxes related to beef cattle raised on continuous permanent Brachiaria pastures (CON) or in ICL and ICLF systems in the Brazilian Cerrado in the rainy and dry seasons. Evapotranspiration of forage grass, Eucalyptus trees in ICLF, and from drinking water troughs were calculated from meteorological data collected in the field. Forage accumulation was measured in 11 paddocks over both seasons, and forage intake, drinking water intake, and bodyweight were quantified in 12 growing Nellore heifers per system during two months per season. Freshwater fluxes related to forage production and animals were estimated. Drinking water intake and water intake via forage did not differ (P ≥ 0.073) between the systems, and were greater (P ≤ 0.035) in the rainy than the dry season. Faecal and urinary water excretions were greater in the dry than the rainy season (P ≤ 0.005). The respiratory and cutaneous water losses were greater (P < 0.001) in the rainy than the dry season. In the rainy season, evapotranspiration related to forage accumulation and freshwater consumption for raising beef cattle were greatest in CON, whereas they were greatest in ICLF in the dry season. Although ICLF appeared to be less resilient to dry periods, both integrated systems offer the potential for reduced freshwater consumption for raising beef cattle under grazing conditions, by improving the efficiency of forage use and/or decreasing evapotranspiration of forage.

牛肉生产是所有食品生产系统中最大的用水者之一，但在其淡水消耗的核算和解释方面存在巨大的知识空白。此外，几乎没有任何研究评估过综合作物-牲畜 (ICL) 和作物-牲畜-林业 (ICLF) 系统中与肉牛相关的淡水通量。我们旨在量化与在雨季和旱季在巴西塞拉多的连续永久性Brachiaria牧场 (CON) 或 ICL 和 ICLF 系统中饲养的肉牛相关的淡水通量。根据气象数据计算了ICLF中牧草、桉树和饮用水槽的蒸散量田间采集。在两个季节中测量了 11 个围场中的草料积累，并且在每个季节两个月内对每个系统 12 头生长中的 Nellore 小母牛的草料摄入量、饮用水摄入量和体重进行了量化。淡水通量相关估计了草料产量和动物。饮水摄入量和草料摄入量在不同系统之间没有差异（P ≥ 0.073），雨季大于旱季（P ≤ 0.035）。旱季粪便和尿水排泄量大于雨季（P ≤ 0.005）。雨季的呼吸和皮肤失水量大于旱季（P < 0.001）。在雨季，与牧草积累和饲养肉牛的淡水消耗相关的蒸散量在CON中最大，而在旱季ICLF中最大。尽管 ICLF 似乎对干旱期的适应力较差，但两种集成系统都可以减少在放牧条件下饲养肉牛的淡水消耗量，