Modelling the effect of diet composition on enteric methane emissions across sheep, beef cattle and dairy cows

Bell, Matthew J., Eckard, Richard, Moate, Peter J. and Yan, Tianhai (2016) Modelling the effect of diet composition on enteric methane emissions across sheep, beef cattle and dairy cows. Animals, 6 (9). 54/1-54/16. ISSN 2076-2615

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Abstract

Enteric methane (CH4) is a by-product from fermentation of feed consumed by ruminants, which represents a nutritional loss and is also considered a contributor to climate change. The aim of this research was to use individual animal data from 17 published experiments that included sheep (n = 288), beef cattle (n = 71) and dairy cows (n = 284) to develop an empirical model to describe enteric CH4 emissions from both cattle and sheep, and then evaluate the model alongside equations from the literature. Data were obtained from studies in the United Kingdom (UK) and Australia, which measured enteric CH4 emissions from individual animals in calorimeters. Animals were either fed solely forage or a mixed ration of forage with a compound feed. The feed intake of sheep was restricted to a maintenance amount of 875 g of DM per day (maintenance level), whereas beef cattle and dairy cows were fed to meet their metabolizable energy (ME) requirement (i.e., production level). A linear mixed model approach was used to develop a multiple linear regression model to predict an individual animal’s CH4 yield (g CH4/kg dry matter intake) from the composition of its diet. The diet components that had significant effects on CH4 yield were digestible organic matter (DOMD), ether extract (EE) (both g/kg DM) and feeding level above maintenance intake: CH4 (g/kg DM intake) = 0.046 (_0.001) X DOMD

Item Type: Article
RIS ID: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/818589
Keywords: sheep; cattle; enteric methane; diet; prediction; modelling
Schools/Departments: University of Nottingham, UK > Faculty of Science > School of Biosciences
Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.3390/ani6090054
Depositing User: Eprints, Support
Date Deposited: 23 Sep 2016 12:54
Last Modified: 04 May 2020 18:13
URI: https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/37097

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