Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T03:43:08.542Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Applicability of short-term emission measurements for on-farm quantification of enteric methane

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 June 2013

R. S. Hegarty
R. S. Hegarty*
Affiliation:
School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia
*
†E-mail: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

A short term enteric methane emission measurement is not identical to a measure of daily methane production (DMP) made in a respiration chamber (RC). While RC curtail most variation except that from quantity and composition of feed supplied, all short-term measurements contain additional sources of variation. The points of difference can include measurement time(s) relative to feeding, feed intake before measurement, animal behaviour in selection of diet and level of activity before measurement. For systems where a short-term emission measurement is made at the same time in the daily feeding cycle (e.g. during twice-daily milking) scaling up of short-term emission rates to estimate DMP is feasible but the scaling coefficient(s) will be diet dependent. For systems such as GreenFeed where direct emission rates are measured on occasion throughout day and night, no scaling up may be required to estimate DMP. For systems where small numbers of emission measures are made, and there is no knowledge of prior feed intake, such as for portable accumulation chambers, scaling to DMP is not currently possible. Even without scaling up to DMP, short-term measured emission rates are adequate for identifying relative emission changes induced by mitigation strategies and could provide the data to support genetic selection of ruminants for reduced enteric emissions.

Keywords

ruminantgreenhouse gasenteric emissionsmethanemeasurement
Type
Full Paper
Information
animal , Volume 7 , Issue s2: Greenhouse Gases & Animal Agriculture Conference (GGAA 2013), 23rd ‐ 26th June 2013, Dublin, Ireland , June 2013 , pp. 401 - 408
Copyright
Copyright © The Animal Consortium 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arthur, PF, Herd, RM, Donoghue, KA, Bird, SH, Hegarty, RF 2012. Natural variation in methane emissions among progeny of Angus bulls. Proceedings of the 15th AAAP Animal Science Congress, 26–30 November 2012. Thammasat University, Rangsit Campus, Thailand, 256–260.Google Scholar
Bayaru, E, Kanda, S, Kamada, T, Itabashi, H, Andoh, S, Nishida, T, Ishida, M, Itoh, T, Nagara, K, Isobe, Y 2001. Effect of fumaric acid on methane production, rumen fermentation and digestibility of cattle fed roughage alone. Animal Science Journal 72, 139–146.Google Scholar
Beauchemin, KA, Kreuzer, M, O'Mara, F, McAllister, TA 2008. Nutritional management for enteric methane abatement: a review. Australian Journal of Experimetnal Agriculture 48, 21–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bickell, SL, Robinson, DL, Toovey, AF, Goopy, JP, Hegarty, RS, Revell, DK, Vercoe, PE 2011. Four week repeatability of daily and one hour methane production of mature Merino wethers fed ad libitum. Proceedings of the Association for Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics 19, 415–418.Google Scholar
Blaxter, KL 1962. Energy metabolism of ruminants. Hutchinson, London, UK.Google Scholar
Blaxter, KL, Clapperton, JL 1965. Prediction of the amount of methane produced by ruminants. British Journal of Nutrition 19, 511–522.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Boadi, DA, Wittenberg, KM, Kennedy, AD 2002. Validation of the sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) tracer gas technique for measurement of methane and carbon dioxide production by cattle. Canadian Journal of Animal Science 82, 125–131.Google Scholar
Brosh, A, Aharoni, Y, Degen, AA, Wright, D, Young, B 1998. Estimation of energy expenditure from heart rate measurements in cattle maintained under different conditions. Journal of Animal Science 76, 3054–3064.Google Scholar
Chagunda, MGG, Yan, T 2011. Do methane measurements from a laser detector and an indirect open circuit respiration calorimetric chamber agree sufficiently closely? Animal Feed Science and Technology 165, 8–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chagunda, MGG, Ross, D, Roberts, DJ 2009. On the use of a laser methane detector in dairy cows. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 68, 157–160.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Champion, RA, Rutter, SM, Penning, PD, Rook, AJ 1994. Temporal variation in grazing behaviour of sheep and the reliability of sampling periods. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 42, 99–108.Google Scholar
Corbett, JL, Farrell, DJ, Leng, RA, McClymont, GL, Young, BA 1971. Determination of the energy expenditure of penned and grazing sheep from estimates of carbon dioxide entry rate. British Journal of Nutrition 26, 277–291.Google Scholar
Garnsworthy, PC, Craigon, J, Hernandez-Medrano, JH, Saunders, N 2012a. On-farm methane measurements during milking correlate with total methane production by individual dairy cows. Journal of Dairy Science 95, 3166–3180.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Garnsworthy, PC, Craigon, J, Hernandez-Medrano, JH, Saunders, N 2012b. Variation among individual dairy cows in methane measurements made on farm during milking. Journal of Dairy Science 95, 3181–3189.Google Scholar
Goopy, JP, Hegarty, RS, Robinson, D 2009. Two hour chamber measurements provide a reliable estimate of daily methane production in sheep. In Ruminant physiology: digestion, metabolism, and effects of nutrition on reproduction and welfare: Proceedings of the XIth International Symposium on Ruminant Physiology (ed. Y Chilliard, F Glasser, Y Faulconnier, F Bocquier, I Veissier and M Doreau), pp. 190–191. Academic Publishers, Wageningen, The Netherlands.Google Scholar
Goopy, JP, Woodgate, R, Donaldson, A, Robinson, DL, Hegarty, RS 2011. Validation of a short term methane measurement using a portable static chamber to estimate daily methane production in sheep. Animal Feed Science and Technology 166–167, 219–226.Google Scholar
Grainger, C, Clarke, T, McGinn, SM, Auldist, MJ, Beauchemin, KA, Hannah, MC, Waghorn, GC, Clark, H, Eckard, RJ 2007. Methane emissions from dairy cows measured using the sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) tracer and chamber techniques. Journal of Dairy Science 90, 2755–2766.Google Scholar
Hammond, KJ, Humphries, DJ, Crompton, LA, Kirton, P, Green, C, Reynolds, CK 2013. Methane emissions from growing dairy heifers estimated using an automated head chamber (GreenFeed) compared to respiration chambers or SF6 techniques. Advances in Animal Biosciences (forthcoming).Google Scholar
Johnson, K, Huyler, M, Westberg, H, Lamb, B, Zimmerman, P 1994. Measurement of methane emissions from ruminant livestock using a SF6 tracer technique. Environmental Science and Technology 28, 359–362.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Judd, MJ, Kellier, FM, Ulyatt, MJ, Lassey, KR, Tate, KR, Shelton, D, Harvey, MJ, Walker, CF 1999. Net methane emissions from grazing sheep. Global Change Biology 5, 647–657.Google Scholar
Kelly, JM, Kerrigan, B, Milligan, LP, McBride, BW 1994. Development of a mobile, open circuit indirect calorimetry system. Canadian Journal of Animal Science 74, 65–71.Google Scholar
Landau, A, Silanikove, N, Nitsan, Z, Barkai, D, Baram, H, Provenza, FD, Perevolotsky, A 2000. Short-term changes in eating patterns explain the effects of condensed tannins on feed intake in heifers. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 69, 199–213.Google Scholar
Lassen, J, Lovendahl, P, Madsen, J 2010. Experiences with large scale individual measurements of methane emission in dairy cattle using a fourier transform infrared measuring unit. Proceedings of the 9th World Congress on Genetics Applied to Animal Production, 1 to 6 August 2010, Leipzig, Germany. Retrieved March 23, 2013, from http://www.kongressband.de/wcgalp2010/assets/html/0247.htmGoogle Scholar
Lassen, J, Lovendahl, P, Madsen, J 2012. Accuracy of noninvasive breath methane measurements using Fourier transform infrared methods on individual cows. Journal of Dairy Science 95, 890–898.Google Scholar
Lines, DS, Goopy, JP, Nolan, JV 2010. How often do we need to measure methane production in ruminants to establish robust phenotype? Proceedings of the Australian Society of Animal Production 28, 62. Retrieved May 6, 2013, from http://www.asap.asn.au/asap28/files/lines062.pdfGoogle Scholar
Lockyer, DR, Jarvis, SC 1995. The measurement of methane losses from grazing animals. Envrironmental Pollution 90, 383–390.Google Scholar
Madsen, J, Bjerg, BS, Hvelplund, T, Weisbjerg, MR, Lund, P 2010. Methane and carbon dioxide ratio in excreted air for quantification of the methane production from ruminants. Livestock Science 129, 223–227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mathers, JC, Walters, DE 1982. Variation in methane production by sheep fed every two hours. Journal of Agricultural Science 98, 633–638.Google Scholar
McCauley, EH, Dziuk, HE 1965. Correlation of motility and gas collection from goat rumen. American Journal of Physiology 209, 1152–1154.Google Scholar
McCrabb, GJ, Hunter, RA 1999. Prediction of methane emissions from beef cattle in tropical production systems. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 50, 1335–1339.Google Scholar
McEwan, JC, Hickey, SM, Young, E, Dodds, K, MacLean, S, Molano, G, Sandoval, E, Pinares-Patiño, C. 2012. Heritability estimates for hourly measures of methane emissions. Proceedings of the 33rd International Society for Animal Genetics Conference, 15 to 20 July 2012, Cairns P4021. Retrieved March 23, 2013, from http://www.isag.us/Docs/Proceedings/ISAG_Programme_and_Abstract_Book_2012.pdfGoogle Scholar
McPhee, MJ, Hegarty, RS 2008. Predicting the metabolisable energy intake of ruminants using digestibility, ruminal methane production and fermentation data. Journal of Agricultural Science 146, 643–654.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Münger, A, Kreuzer, M 2008. Absence of persistent methane emission differences in three breeds of dairy cows. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 48, 77–82.Google Scholar
Murray, PJ, Gill, E, Balsdon, SL, Jarvis, SC 2001. A comparison of methane emissions from sheep grazing pastures with differing management intensities. Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems 60, 93–97.Google Scholar
Nolan, JV, Hegarty, RS, Hegarty, J, Godwin, IR, Woodgate, R 2010. Effects of dietary nitrate on fermentation, methane production and digesta kinetics in sheep. Animal Production Science 50, 80–86.Google Scholar
Pinares-Patiño, CS, D'Hour, P, Jouany, JP, Martin, C 2007. Effects of stocking rate on methane and carbon dioxide emission from grazing cattle. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 121, 30–46.Google Scholar
Pinares-Patiño, CS, Lassey, KR, Martin, RJ, Molano, G, Fernandez, M, MacLean, S, Sandoval, E, Luo, D, Clark, H 2011. Assessment of the sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) tracer technique using respiration chambers for estimation of methane emissions from sheep. Animal Feed Science and Technology 166–167, 201–209.Google Scholar
Pinares-Patiño, CS, Hickey, SM, Young, EA, Dodds, KG, MacLean, S, Molano, G, Sandoval, E, Kjestrup, H, Harland, R, Pickering, NK, McEwan, JC 2013. Heritability estimates of methane emissions from sheep. Animal 7 (suppl. 2), 316–321.Google Scholar
Robinson, DL 2009. Improving the accuracy of selecting animals for reduced methane emissions. Proceedings of the Association for the Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics 18, 644–647.Google Scholar
Robinson, DL, Goopy, JP, Hegarty, RS, Vercoe, PE 2010. Repeatability, animal and sire variation in 1-hr methane emissions and relationships with rumen volatile fatty acid concentrations. Proceedings of the 9th World Congress on Genetics Applied to Animal Production, 1 to 6 August 2010, Leipzig, Germany. Retrieved March 23, 2013, from http://www.kongressband.de/wcgalp2010/assets/html/0712.htmGoogle Scholar
Robinson, DL, Goopy, JP, Woodgate, R, Donaldson, A, Hegarty, RS, Oddy, VH 2012. Comparison of potential traits for reducing methane emissions in sheep. Programme and Abstract, 33rd Conference of the International Society for Animal Genetics, 15 to 20 July 2012, Cairns Australia, P3061. Retrieved March 23, 2013, from http://www.isag.us/Docs/Proceedings/ISAG_Programme_and_Abstract_Book_2012.pdfGoogle Scholar
SCA 1990. Feeding Standards for Australian Livestock, Ruminants. Standing Committee on Agriculture and CSIRO. Melbourne, Australia.Google Scholar
Sutherland, TM 1977. The control and manipulation of rumen fermentation. In Recent advances in animal nutrition in Australia (ed. DJ Farrell), pp. 110–129. University of New England, Armidale, NSW, Australia.Google Scholar
Velazco, JI, Bremner, G, Li, L, Luijben, K, Hegarty, RS, Perdok, H 2013. Short-term emission measurements in beef feedlot cattle to demonstrate enteric methane mitigation from dietary nitrate. Advances in Animal Biosciences (forthcoming).Google Scholar
Waghorn, GC, Reid, CSW 1983. Rumen motility in sheep and cattle given different diets. New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research 26, 289–295.Google Scholar
Waghorn, G, Garnett, E, Pinares-Patiño, CS, Zimmerman, S 2013. Implementation of GreenFeed for estimating methane in a dairy herd grazing pasture. Advances in Animal Biosciences.Google Scholar
Wall, E, Simm, G, Moran, D 2010. Developing breeding schemes to assist mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions. Animal 4, 366–376.Google Scholar
Wright, ADG, Kennedy, P, O'Neill, CJ, Toovey, AF, Popovski, S, Rea, SM, Pimm, CL, Klein, L 2004. Reducing methane emissions in sheep by immunization against rumen methanogens. Vaccine 29–30, 3976–3985.Google Scholar
Xue, B, Yan, T, Ferris, CF, Mayne, CS 2011. Milk production and energy efficiency of Holstein and Jersey-Holstein crossbred dairy cows offered diets containing grass silage. Journal of Dairy Science 94, 1455–1464.Google Scholar
Zimmerman, S 2013. What is GreenFeed? Retrieved January 31, 2013, from http://c-lockinc.com/whatisgreenfeed.phpGoogle Scholar
Zimmerman, S, Michal, JJ, White, R, Johnson, KA, Guerouali, A, Zimmerman, P. 2013. Evaluation of a novel system to measure enteric methane emissions from beef cattle on pasture Abstract accepted in American Dairy Science Association/American Society of Animal Science Association Joint meeting, 8 to 12 July 2013, Indianapolis, Indianna.Google Scholar