704. The impact of sire on variation in methane production and dry matter intake in sheep

O’Connor, E.; McGovern, Fiona; Dunne, E.; Morrison, S.J.; Boland, T. M.; McHugh, N.

doi:10.3920/978-90-8686-940-4_704

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 7 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Methane yield was not reported in the current study as PAC are a ranking tool for CH 4 that only gives an estimate of CH 4 output. Methane yield in the current study ranged from 9.9 to 13.33 g CH 4 /kg DMI and were similar to previously reported values measured using PAC ( O’ Connor et al, 2022 ; O’ Connor, 2024 ). Values in the current study were lower, however, than values reported using the sulphur hexafluoride technique (15.3 to 22.3 g CH 4 /kg DMI; Pinares-Patiño et al, 2011a ; Jonker et al, 2017 ) and respiration chambers (16 to 24.9 g CH 4 /kg DMI; Pinares-Patiño et al, 2011b ; Jonker et al, 2018 ); which is not expected given that it is comparing a 50 min measurement that is extrapolated up to give a grams per day value to a 24 h measurement period.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Methane output across life stages in sheep, how it differs from lambs to adult ewes using portable accumulation chambers

Connor,

McHugh,

Dunne

et al. 2024

Journal of Animal Science

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Methane (CH4) produced from enteric fermentation is a potent greenhouse gas produced by ruminant animals. Multiple measurements are required across life stages to develop an understanding of how CH4 output changes throughout the animal’s lifetime. The objectives of the current study were to estimate CH4 output across life stages in sheep and to investigate the relationship between CH4 output and dry matter intake (DMI). Data were generated on a total of 266 female Suffolk and Texel animals. Methane and carbon dioxide (CO2) output, estimated using portable accumulation chambers, and DMI, estimated using the n-alkane technique outdoors and using individual penning indoors, were quantified across the animal’s life stage; as lambs (< 12 months), nulliparous hoggets (12 to 24 months) and ewes (primiparous or greater; > 24 months). Ewes were further classified as pregnant, lactating and dry (non-pregnant and non-lactating). Multiple measurements were taken within and across life stages on the same animals. A linear mixed model was used to determine if CH4 and CO2 output differed across life stages and using a separate linear mixed model the factors associated with CH4 output within each life stage were also investigated. Methane, CO2 output and DMI differed by life stage (P<0.05), with lactating ewes producing the greatest amount of CH4 (25.99 g CH4/day) and CO2 (1711.6 g CO2/day), while also having the highest DMI (2.18 kg dry matter/day). Methane output differed by live-weight of the animals across all life stages (P<0.001). As ewe body condition score increased CH4 output declined (P<0.05). Correlations between CH4 output measured across life stages ranged from 0.26 (SE 0.08; lambs and lactating ewes) to 0.59 (SE 0.06; hoggets and pregnant ewes), while correlations between CO2 output measured across life stages ranged from 0.12 (SE 0.06; lambs and hoggets) to 0.65 (SE 0.06; hoggets and lactating ewes). Dry matter intake was moderately correlated with CH4 (0.44; SE 0.04) and CO2 output (0.59; SE 0.03). Results from this study provide estimates of CH4 output across life stages in a pasture-based sheep production system and offer valuable information for the national inventory and the marginal abatement cost curve on the optimum time to target mitigation strategies.

show abstract