Abstract
<title>Abstract</title> <p>Water is an essential nutrient for productive performance in cattle. In addition to environmental factors, water intake is directly influenced by feed intake and the physical and chemical characteristics of the diet. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate daily water intake (DWI), drinking visits (DV), water intake per visit (WI/V), and time spent at the water trough (TWT) in Gyr dairy heifers fed diets with varying proportions of wheat silage. Thirty-two heifers, with an initial body weight of 357 ± 28.2 kg and a mean age of 797 ± 26 days, were used. The animals were randomly assigned to four treatments (n = 8 animals/treatment) in a completely randomised design. Treatments consisted of isonitrogenous diets with a forage-to-concentrate ratio of approximately 80:20, in which wheat silage replaced corn silage at 0, 33, 67, and 100% of the forage dry matter. Means were analyzed using the GLM procedure and compared by Tukey's test at a 5% significance level. No differences were observed among treatments for any of the evaluated variables. It was concluded that, under the conditions of this study, replacing corn silage with wheat silage did not affect water intake or water intake behavior in the animals.</p>