The potential impacts of dietary plant natural products on the sustainable mitigation of methane emission from livestock farming

Ugbogu, Eziuche Amadike; Elghandour, Mona M.M.Y.; Ikpeazu, Victor Okezie; Buendía, German; Molina, Ofelia Márquez; Arunsi, Uche O.; Emmanuel, Okezie; Salem, Abdelfattah Z.M.

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.12.233

Cited by 54 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 123 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The amount of methane emitted is strongly related to feed intake and diet composition. Thus, reductions in GHG from ruminants of up to 60% can be achieved just by dietary intervention, with a number of nutritional strategies proposed to reduce methane emissions [10][11][12] . One of these strategies is the supplementation of feed with plant oils [13][14][15] .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Dietary supplemental plant oils reduce methanogenesis from anaerobic microbial fermentation in the rumen

Vargas

Andrés

López-Ferreras

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Ruminants contribute to the emissions of greenhouse gases, in particular methane, due to the microbial anaerobic fermentation of feed in the rumen. The rumen simulation technique was used to investigate the effects of the addition of different supplemental plant oils to a high concentrate diet on ruminal fermentation and microbial community composition. The control (CTR) diet was a high-concentrate total mixed ration with no supplemental oil. The other experimental diets were supplemented with olive (OLV), sunflower (SFL) or linseed (LNS) oils at 6%. Rumen digesta was used to inoculate the fermenters, and four fermentation units were used per treatment. Fermentation end-products, extent of feed degradation and composition of the microbial community (qPCR) in digesta were determined. Compared with the CTR diet, the addition of plant oils had no significant (P > 0.05) effect on ruminal pH, substrate degradation, total volatile fatty acids or microbial protein synthesis. Gas production from the fermentation of starch or cellulose were decreased by oil supplementation. Methane production was reduced by 21-28% (P < 0.001), propionate production was increased (P < 0.01), and butyrate and ammonia outputs and the acetate to propionate ratio were decreased (P < 0.001) with oilsupplemented diets. Addition of 6% OLV and LNS reduced (P < 0.05) copy numbers of total bacteria relative to the control. In conclusion, the supplementation of ruminant diets with plant oils, in particular from sunflower or linseed, causes some favorable effects on the fermentation processes. The addition of vegetable oils to ruminant mixed rations will reduce methane production increasing the formation of propionic acid without affecting the digestion of feed in the rumen. Adding vegetable fats to ruminant diets seems to be a suitable approach to decrease methane emissions, a relevant cleaner effect that may contribute to alleviate the environmental impact of ruminant production. Ruminant herbivory is characterized by foregut microbial anaerobic fermentation of structural carbohydrates from fibrous plant-based feedstuffs providing nutrients for the animal 1. Moreover, ruminal microbes break down all components of the diet, with characteristic pathways involved in the degradation of fiber and non-structural carbohydrates, proteins and lipids 2,3. Ruminal fermentation can be considered beneficial in many aspects, but has also impacts on the environment. One of the global environmental impacts of livestock agriculture is the release of greenhouse gases (GHG) into the atmosphere 4,5 , in particular methane, a gas responsible for 20% of the global warming produced by all GHG 6,7. It is estimated that raising farm animals accounts for about 16% of anthropogenic GHG emissions, with two-thirds of the total livestock GHG emissions produced by ruminants. Methane (CH 4

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Dietary supplemental plant oils reduce methanogenesis from anaerobic microbial fermentation in the rumen

Vargas

Andrés

López-Ferreras

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, in light of the ambitious target of the PA and the need to offset all remaining GHG emissions by sinks in the future, these modelling results also indicate that halving the production of animal derived foods within high income countries will probably not be sufficient. This remains true regardless of possible mitigation options in agriculture and productivity improvements in the livestock sector (e.g., feeding strategies that reduce CH 4 emissions) or relatively low-emission modes of livestock farming because the achievable emission reductions by those strategies remain rather small and cannot substitute for a significant reduction in livestock production, as we will see below [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, some of these techniques for GHG reduction are also quite questionable: an intensification of agriculture can lead to other environmental problems, such as disrupted nutrient cycles, loss of biodiversity, air, water, and soil pollution [2] (p. 196), [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33], [74] (p. 3). Interventions in the digestive metabolism of animals, for example through feed additives, can impair animal sanitation and often only lead to short-term CH 4 reductions because CH 4 -forming microbes adapt quickly to the treatment [27] (p. 454), [75] (p. 44).…”

Section: Purely Technical Strategies Versus Frugality By Means Of Quamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Wirsenius and Hedenus [77] (p. 244) estimate the technical mitigation potential of EU agriculture at 15% by 2020, taking into account improvements in feed composition for CH 4 reduction, manure management, fertiliser application, use of nitrification inhibitors and pH reductions in manure, and use of 10% renewable fuels in transport when 25-50% of farms apply these techniques (for reduction potential in agriculture see also [78]). This limited potential makes clear that technical improvements alone will not be sufficient to significantly limit GHG emissions from animal husbandry, as emissions are found to be fundamentally linked to the biophysical processes in agriculture [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33]79]. The digestive system of ruminants inevitably produces CH 4 and the production of N 2 O in connection with fertilisation is part of the N cycle [77] (p. 244), [80] (p. 163).…”

Section: Purely Technical Strategies Versus Frugality By Means Of Quamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The currently observed decoupling of land and livestock in modern agriculture, which has progressed with the increase in productivity and specialisation of farms, is linked to numerous sustainability problems in animal husbandry [12] (p. 26,65), [18,20]. The acquisition of feed from external sources requires the use of fossil fuels for transport; feed imports from South America often cause land use changes for feed cultivation with significant consequences for global warming and biodiversity.…”

Section: Climate-linked Livestock-to-land Ratio In Livestock Farming-mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Land Use, Livestock, Quantity Governance, and Economic Instruments—Sustainability Beyond Big Livestock Herds and Fossil Fuels

Weishaupt¹,

Ekardt

Garske

et al. 2020

Sustainability

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The production of animal food products is (besides fossil fuels) one of the most important noxae with regard to many of the environmental problems, such as climate change, biodiversity loss or globally disrupted nutrient cycles. This paper provides a qualitative governance analysis of which regulatory options there are to align livestock farming with the legally binding environmental objectives, in particular the Paris Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity. Two innovative governance approaches are developed and compared: a cap-and-trade scheme for animal products and a livestock-to-land ratio. Both instruments are measured against the above-mentioned environmental objectives, taking into account findings from behavioural sciences and typical governance problems. Both approaches are generally suitable as quantity governance in animal husbandry if they are properly designed. In the end, a combination of both approaches proved to be particularly effective ecologically. All of this simultaneously demonstrates, on the basis of a rarely considered but ecologically highly relevant sector, how a quantity governance approach that is based on an easily comprehensible governance unit can function across all sectors and regions.

show abstract

Caffeic acid modulates methane production and rumen fermentation in an opposite way with high‐forage or high‐concentrate substrate in vitro

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BACKGROUND Plant secondary metabolites, including tannins, saponins and phenolic acids, possess potential methane (CH4) inhibition bioactivity. Caffeic acid (CA), as one of the typical phenolic acids, serves as a promising rumen CH4 inhibitor, but the underlying mechanisms and investigations with typical formulated rations are still not well documented. Therefore, a batch culture study was conducted to investigate the effects of CA on methanogenesis, rumen fermentation and growth of ruminal microorganisms when high‐forage or high‐concentrate substrates are fermented. RESULTS After 48 h incubations, adding CA up to 40 g kg−1 dry matter linearly reduced (P < 0.05) the disappearance of dry matter, neutral detergent fiber (NDFD), total gas, methanogenesis, total volatile fatty acid and 16S rDNA copy numbers of Ruminococcus albus and Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens, and increased 16S rDNA copy numbers of methanogens for the high‐forage treatment. For the high‐concentrate treatment, CA exerted opposite effects (P < 0.05) on the above variables, except that CA did not affect (P > 0.05)16S rDNA copy numbers of methanogens or R. albus. CONCLUSION Caffeic acid inhibited in vitro methanogenesis and rumen fermentation with high‐forage substrate incubation. Contrarily, CA benefited in vitro fermentation and enhanced methanogenesis with high‐concentrate substrate incubation. It suggests that CA modulates methanogenesis and rumen fermentation mainly by affecting the growth of cellulolytic bacteria in vitro. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry

show abstract

The potential impacts of dietary plant natural products on the sustainable mitigation of methane emission from livestock farming

Cited by 54 publications

References 123 publications

Dietary supplemental plant oils reduce methanogenesis from anaerobic microbial fermentation in the rumen

Dietary supplemental plant oils reduce methanogenesis from anaerobic microbial fermentation in the rumen

Land Use, Livestock, Quantity Governance, and Economic Instruments—Sustainability Beyond Big Livestock Herds and Fossil Fuels

Caffeic acid modulates methane production and rumen fermentation in an opposite way with high‐forage or high‐concentrate substrate in vitro

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About