Manipulating Enteric Methane Emissions and Animal Performance of Late-Lactation Dairy Cows Through Concentrate Supplementation at Pasture

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine the potential of increased fiber-based concentrates to reduce methane (CH(4)) production in relation to milk yield from late-lactation dairy cows. The effect of 2 levels of concentrate supplementation (0.87 vs. 5.24 kg on a dry matter basis) on herbage voluntary intake, total dry matter intake, milk yield, milk composition, and CH(4) production were determined by way of a randomized block designed grazing trial using lactating Holstein-Friesian cows (231 +/- 44 d in milk) grazing a mixed-grass sward with a regrowth aged 36 d. Increased concentrate supplementation resulted in a significant increase in total dry matter intake, milk yield, fat-corrected milk (FCM) yield, and daily CH(4) production. However, herbage intake and milk composition were unaffected. Although daily CH(4) production increased with fibrous concentrate use the increase was not as great as that observed for milk yield. The decline in CH(4) production per kilogram of milk was nonsignificant; however, when relating CH(4) production to FCM(FCM at 35 g of fat/kg of milk), a declining trend was identified within increasing concentrate supplementation (19.26 and 16.02 g of CH(4)/kg of FCM). These results suggest that increased fibrous concentrate use at pasture, even at modest levels, could reduce enteric CH(4) production per kilogram of animal product. However, the effectiveness of such a strategy is dependent on the maintenance of production quotas and a subsequent decline in the number of livestock needed to fulfill the specified production level.

Carbon footprint in different beef production systems on a southern Brazilian farm: a case study

“…This was due to the proteinenergetic mineralised salt used because it acts as an amender in the feed conversion rate and reduces the time to achieve the fattening weight (510 days). These results were consistent with those of other studies demonstrating that higher quality forage, the use of concentrated, essential oils or increased growth rates reduced methane and nitrous oxide emitted from manure, both of which are key emission gases (Benchaar and Greathead, 2011;Casey and Holden, 2006;Lovett et al, 2005).…”

Methane mitigation in ruminants: from microbe to the farm scale

“…Substitution of beet pulp by barley in a high concentrate diet (70%) fed to dairy cows reduced CH 4 emissions by 34% (Beever et al, 1989). Lovett et al (2005) reported that this was not the case when fresh forages were the main ingredients of the basal diet. Beauchemin and McGinn (2005) measured CH 4 emissions from feedlot cattle fed backgrounding and finishing diets containing maize (slowly degradable starch) or barley grain (rapidly degradable starch).…”

Opportunities and challenges in the use of the Laser Methane Detector to monitor enteric methane emissions from ruminants

“…Like CO 2 and nitrous oxide (N 2 O), CH 4 has the capacity to raise earth's temperature through the absorption of long-wave radiation -E-mail: mizeck.chagunda@sruc.ac.uk (Lovett et al, 2005). The Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) has reported sharp increases in concentrations of GHG mainly because of human activities (IPCC, 2007).…”