Hot topic: Selecting cattle for low residual feed intake did not affect daily methane production but increased methane yield

Flay, H.E.; Kuhn-Sherlock, B.; Macdonald, Kevin; Camara, Mark D.; López‐Villalobos, N.; Donaghy, DJ; Roche, J.R.

doi:10.3168/jds.2018-15234

Cited by 46 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 26 publications

(45 reference statements)

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“…Although on roughage diets food intake may be reduced, this does not translate into BM losses, but may, on the contrary, be linked with higher feed conversion efficiency (McCrabb et al, 1997;Hristov et al, 2015;Dittmann et al, 2016). However, natural variation in residual BM gain or residual feed efficiency was not related to CH 4 production (Freetly et al, 2015;McDonnell et al, 2016;Alemu et al, 2017), and selection for high feeding efficiency might even be associated with increased CH 4 yields (Flay et al, 2019). Yet, CH 4 inhibition has been reported to facilitate higher milk or milk protein yields (Abecia et al, 2012;Hristov et al, 2015).…”

Section: Why Harbour Methanogens?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Review: Comparative methane production in mammalian herbivores

Clauss

Dittmann

Vendl

et al. 2020

Animal

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Methane (CH4) production is a ubiquitous, apparently unavoidable side effect of fermentative fibre digestion by symbiotic microbiota in mammalian herbivores. Here, a data compilation is presented of in vivo CH4 measurements in individuals of 37 mammalian herbivore species fed forage-only diets, from the literature and from hitherto unpublished measurements. In contrast to previous claims, absolute CH4 emissions scaled linearly to DM intake, and CH4 yields (per DM or gross energy intake) did not vary significantly with body mass. CH4 physiology hence cannot be construed to represent an intrinsic ruminant or herbivore body size limitation. The dataset does not support traditional dichotomies of CH4 emission intensity between ruminants and nonruminants, or between foregut and hindgut fermenters. Several rodent hindgut fermenters and nonruminant foregut fermenters emit CH4 of a magnitude as high as ruminants of similar size, intake level, digesta retention or gut capacity. By contrast, equids, macropods (kangaroos) and rabbits produce few CH4 and have low CH4 : CO2 ratios for their size, intake level, digesta retention or gut capacity, ruling out these factors as explanation for interspecific variation. These findings lead to the conclusion that still unidentified host-specific factors other than digesta retention characteristics, or the presence of rumination or a foregut, influence CH4 production. Measurements of CH4 yield per digested fibre indicate that the amount of CH4 produced during fibre digestion varies not only across but also within species, possibly pointing towards variation in microbiota functionality. Recent findings on the genetic control of microbiome composition, including methanogens, raise the question about the benefits methanogens provide for many (but apparently not to the same extent for all) species, which possibly prevented the evolution of the hosting of low-methanogenic microbiota across mammals.

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Section: Why Harbour Methanogens?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Review: Comparative methane production in mammalian herbivores

Clauss

Dittmann

Vendl

et al. 2020

Animal

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“…However, the low-RFI heifers had a greater methane yield than the high-RFI heifers: 22.4 vs. 20.2 g/kg DM, respectively [p = 0.034], whatever the diet. In a study with dairy Holstein and Jersey cattle, 14 low-RFI and 14 high-RFI heifers were selected among 140 heifers within each breed and then measured with GreenFeed during 18 or 25 days [40]. No RFI group difference was observed for CH 4 [p = 0.60], but for methane yield, the low-RFI heifers produced significantly [p < 0.01] (10%) more methane per kg DM (22.7 g/kg DM) than high-RFI heifers (20.7 g/kg DM).…”

Section: Calculated Growth and Methane Efficiency Traitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Methane and Carbon Dioxide Emission of Beef Heifers in Relation with Growth and Feed Efficiency

Renand

Vinet

Decruyenaere

et al. 2019

Animals

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Simple Summary: For sustainable meat production, beef farmers must make the best use of grass and roughage while limiting the carbon footprint of their herds. The genetic improvement in feed efficiency and enteric methane production of replacement heifers is possible if the recorded phenotypes are available. Intuitively, the relationship between the two traits should be negative, i.e., favorable, since the energy lost with the methane is not available for heifer metabolism. The measurement of feed efficiency requires several weeks of feed intake recording. The enteric methane emission rate can also be recorded over several weeks. The two traits of 326 beef heifers from two experimental farms were measured simultaneously for 8 to 12 weeks. The correlations between roughage intake, daily gain, and methane were all positive. The enteric methane emission rate was positively related to body weight, daily gain, and dry matter intake. The relationship with feed efficiency was slightly positive, i.e., unfavorable. Therefore, the two traits should be recorded simultaneously to evidence low-emitting and efficient heifers. This study also showed that replacing the feed intake recording with the carbon dioxide emission rate appeared potentially beneficial for selecting these low-emitting and efficient heifers.Abstract: Reducing enteric methane production and improving the feed efficiency of heifers on roughage diets are important selection objectives for sustainable beef production. The objective of the current study was to assess the relationship between different methane production and feed efficiency criteria of beef heifers fed ad libitum roughage diets. A total of 326 Charolais heifers aged 22 months were controlled in two farms and fed either a grass silage (n = 252) or a natural meadow hay (n = 74) diet. Methane (CH 4 ) and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emission rates (g/day) were measured with GreenFeed systems. The dry matter intake (DMI), average daily gain (ADG), CH 4 and CO 2 were measured over 8 to 12 weeks. Positive correlations were observed among body weight, DMI, ADG, CH 4 and CO 2 . The residual feed intake (r wg DMI) was not related to CH 4 or residual methane (r wi CH 4 ). It was negatively correlated with methane yield (CH 4 /DMI): R p = −0.87 and −0.83. Residual gain (r w iADG) and ADG/DMI were weakly and positively related to residual methane (r wi CH 4 ): R p = 0.21 on average. The ratio ADG/CO 2 appeared to be a useful proxy of ADG/DMI (R p = 0.64 and 0.97) and CH 4 /CO 2 a proxy of methane yield (R p = 0.24 and 0.33) for selecting low-emitting and efficient heifers.

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“…Therefore, identifying biological regulators of feed-efficiency in young dairy cattle would maximize profit margins [2]. The RFI is a relatively new measurement of feed efficiency in dairy cattle [3,4], and is defined as the difference between actual and predicted feed intake, whereby predicted intake is calculated using a linear regression of actual intake on metabolic body weight (BW 0.75 ) and average daily gain (ADG) [5]. The most-efficient animals (M-eff) have actual intakes smaller than predicted resulting in negative RFI coefficients, whereas the opposite is true for least-efficient animals (L-eff).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Residual feed intake divergence during the preweaning period is associated with unique hindgut microbiome and metabolome profiles in neonatal Holstein heifer calves

Elolimy

Alharthi

Zeineldin

et al. 2020

J Animal Sci Biotechnol

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Background: Recent studies underscored that divergence in residual feed intake (RFI) in mature beef and dairy cattle is associated with changes in ruminal microbiome and metabolome profiles which may contribute, at least in part, to better feed efficiency. Because the rumen in neonatal calves during the preweaning period is underdeveloped until close to weaning, they rely on hindgut microbial fermentation to breakdown undigested diet components. This leads to production of key metabolites such as volatile fatty acids (VFA), amino acids, and vitamins that could potentially be absorbed in the hind-gut and help drive growth and development. Whether RFI divergence in neonatal calves is associated with changes in hindgut microbial communities and metabolites is largely unknown. Therefore, the objective of the current study was to determine differences in hindgut microbiome and metabolome in neonatal Holstein heifer calves retrospectively-grouped based on feed efficiency as mostefficient (M-eff) or least-efficient (L-eff) calves using RFI divergence during the preweaning period. Methods: Twenty-six Holstein heifer calves received 3.8 L of first-milking colostrum from their respective dams within 6 h after birth. Calves were housed in individual outdoor hutches bedded with straw, fed twice daily with a milk replacer, and had ad libitum access to a starter grain mix from birth to weaning at 42 d of age. Calves were classified into M-eff [n = 13; RFI coefficient = − 5.72 ± 0.94 kg DMI (milk replacer + starter grain)/d] and L-eff [n = 13; RFI coefficient = 5.61 ± 0.94 kg DMI (milk replacer + starter grain)/d] based on a linear regression model including the combined starter grain mix and milk replacer DMI, average daily gain (ADG), and metabolic body weight (MBW). A deep sterile rectal swab exposed only to the rectum was collected immediately at birth before colostrum feeding (i.e., d 0), and fecal samples at d 14, 28, and 42 (prior to weaning) for microbiome and untargeted metabolome analyses using 16S rRNA gene sequencing and LC-MS. Microbiome data were analyzed with the QIIME 2 platform and metabolome data with the MetaboAnalyst 4.0 pipeline.

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Hot topic: Selecting cattle for low residual feed intake did not affect daily methane production but increased methane yield

Cited by 46 publications

References 26 publications

Review: Comparative methane production in mammalian herbivores

Review: Comparative methane production in mammalian herbivores

Methane and Carbon Dioxide Emission of Beef Heifers in Relation with Growth and Feed Efficiency

Residual feed intake divergence during the preweaning period is associated with unique hindgut microbiome and metabolome profiles in neonatal Holstein heifer calves

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