The effects of feeding liquid or pelleted formulations of Asparagopsis armata to lactating dairy cows on methane production, dry matter intake, milk production and milk composition

Modeling the environmental impacts of Asparagopsis as feed, a cow toilet and slurry acidification in two synthetic dairy farms

“…Inclusion levels below 1 % of OM in dairy cows [ 9 ] and 0.5 % of OM in cattle [ 13 , 14 ] show no transfer of bromoform to milk, meat, blood, or feces in short-term studies. Conversely, other studies have detected bromoform in urine and milk [ 10 , 11 , 18 ], while after 17 days of feeding Asparagopsis , no traces were detected in milk, animal tissues or feces, regardless of the inclusion level in nonadapted dairy cows [ 18 ]. However, the concentrations of bromoform in the products were below the acceptable concentration limits.…”

“…Feeding the red macroalgae Asparagopsis spp. can substantially reduce enteric methane emissions in dairy cows [ [9] , [10] , [11] , [12] ] and cattle [ 13 , 14 ] due to its high bromoform content [ 6 , 15 ]. Other macroalgae tested show no effect on reducing methane emissions in trials [ 16 , 17 ].…”

“…A low inclusion level of 0.5 % of organic matter (OM) results in a moderate CH 4 reduction and has no significant impact on milk yield [ 9 ], while a high inclusion level of 1 % of OM achieves a higher CH 4 reduction but decreases milk yield [ 9 , 12 , 18 ]. No effects on milk yield are reported for canola oil steeped with Asparagopsis armata [ 10 ] or for liquid or pelleted formulations of Asparagopsis armata [ 11 ]. In cattle, CH 4 emissions are reduced with inclusion levels of up to 0.5 % of OM without compromising meat quality or daily weight gain [ 6 , 14 ].…”