Methane emissions by beef cattle consuming hay of varying quality in the dry forest ecosystem of Costa Rica

Montenegro, Júlia; Barrantes, Ellen Sancho; DiLorenzo, Nicolás

doi:10.1016/j.livsci.2016.09.008

Cited by 14 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Similar findings have recently been reported, in which increased enteric methane emission from cattle was observed in response to increased DM intake when a better quality feed was offered. However, methane production decreased when it was expressed per unit of DM intake (Cota et al 2014;Montenegro et al 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intake, digestibility, growth performance, and enteric methane emission of Brazilian semiarid non-descript breed goats fed diets with different forage to concentrate ratios

Barbosa

Voltolini

Menezes

et al. 2017

Trop Anim Health Prod

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The aim of this study was to evaluate the intake, digestibility, growth performance, and enteric methane emissions of Brazilian semiarid non-descript breed goats (NDG) fed diets with different forage:concentrate ratios (100:0, 80:20, 60:40, 40:60, and 20:80) on a dry matter basis. Forty uncastrated male NDG with an average initial body weight of 13.3 kg ± 4.7 kg were distributed in a completely randomized design, with five treatments and eight replications. Ground Tifton-85 hay was used as forage and ground corn and soybean meal were used as concentrate. The sulfur hexafluoride tracer technique was used to measure methane emissions. The intake of dry matter, organic matter, crude protein, and ether extract increased linearly while the intake of neutral detergent fiber decreased linearly as the concentrate proportion increased (P < 0.05). The digestibility of dry matter and organic matter increased while the digestibility of neutral detergent fiber decreased as the concentrate level increased (P < 0.05). There were linear increases in final body weight, total weight gain, average daily gain, and feed efficiency (P < 0.0001). Methane emissions per unit of body weight (ranging from 1.9 to 0.5 g/kg), metabolic body weight (ranging from 3.9 to 1.2 g/kg), and dry matter intake (ranging from 58.8 to 21.9 g/kg) reduced linearly as the concentrate proportion increased (P < 0.01). Decreasing the forage to concentrate ratio in the diet decreased methane emission and increased growth performance of NDG. The 80:20 ratio could be considered more appropriate to reduce methane emissions from NDG, which did not change much at higher levels of concentrate.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intake, digestibility, growth performance, and enteric methane emission of Brazilian semiarid non-descript breed goats fed diets with different forage to concentrate ratios

Barbosa

Voltolini

Menezes

et al. 2017

Trop Anim Health Prod

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“…Increased soil coverage associated with the improved pastures could help mitigate erosion, suppress weeds and contribute to C sequestration through the extensive root production associated with improved grasses (Fisher et al ., 1994; Lemaire et al ., 2014). Improved forages have also been shown to increase the nutritional balance of livestock feed and reduce methane emissions associated with cattle production (Montenegro et al ., 2016), while forage legumes in particular can contribute to soil fertility through the fixation of atmospheric N.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Aside from providing 25% of protein consumed worldwide, appropriately managed livestock systems have been shown to support diverse ecosystem services, including water-flow regulation and erosion control, climate regulation as well as soil biodiversity conservation (Fisher et al ., 1994; Lavelle et al ., 2014; Montenegro et al ., 2016). However, a large portion of livestock systems are based on low-yielding forage crops and apply practices that contribute to environmental degradation and high greenhouse gas emissions (Herrero et al ., 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Participatory Evaluation of Improved Grasses and Forage Legumes for Smallholder Livestock Production in Central America

et al. 2018

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The International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) believes that open access contributes to its mission of reducing hunger and poverty, and improving human nutrition in the tropics through research aimed at increasing the eco-efficiency of agriculture.CIAT is committed to creating and sharing knowledge and information openly and globally. We do this through collaborative research as well as through the open sharing of our data, tools, and publications. Summary: 29Smallholder livestock systems in Central America are typically based on pastures with 30 traditional grasses and associated management practices such as pasture burning and extensive 31 grazing. With the rise of the global population and a corresponding increase in demand for meat 32 and milk production, research efforts have focused on the development of improved grasses and 33 the incorporation of legume species that can increase productivity and sustainability of Central 34American livestock systems. However, farmer adoption remains very limited, in part due to the 35 lack of site-specific evaluation and recommendations by local institutions. Using a multi-site, 36 participatory approach this study examined the potential of five improved grasses and five 37 species of forage legumes as alternatives to the broadly disseminated grass Hyparrhenia rufa (cv. 38 Jaragua) in pasture-based cattle systems in western Honduras and northern El Salvador. 39 Improved grasses (four Brachiaria sp. and Megathyrsus maximus) produced significantly more 40 biomass than H. rufa; also four of the five legume varieties evaluated (Canavalia ensiformis, 41Canavalia brasiliensis, Vigna unguiculata, and Vigna radiata) demonstrated high adaptability to 42 diverse environmental conditions across sites. Farmer participatory evaluation offers a valuable 43 means to assess performance of forages and will likely contribute to their improved utilization. 44Future research is needed on more refined management recommendations, pasture system 45 design, costs, and environmental benefits associated with the adoption of these forages in local 46 livestock production systems. 47 48

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“…In Cay1 and Cay2, animals received Urochloa hybrid cv. Cayman-CIAT BR02/1752 (Cayman) of contrasting chemical composition and nutritional quality due to differences in harvesting time (i.e., regrowth age of 65 (30). Condensed tannins (CT) were determined only for the treatments containing Leucaena, according to the method described by Terrill et al (31).…”

Section: Diets and Forage Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nutritional Quality, Voluntary Intake and Enteric Methane Emissions of Diets Based on Novel Cayman Grass and Its Associations With Two Leucaena Shrub Legumes

Gaviria

Bolívar

Rosenstock³

et al. 2020

Front. Vet. Sci.

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Methane (CH 4 ) emissions from enteric fermentation in cattle are an important source of greenhouse gases, accounting for about 40% of all agricultural emissions. Diet quality plays a fundamental role in determining the magnitude of CH 4 emissions. Specifically, the inclusion of feeds with high digestibility and nutritional value have been reported to be a viable option for reducing CH 4 emissions and, simultaneously, increase animal productivity. The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of the nutritional composition and voluntary intake of diets based on tropical forages upon CH 4 emissions from zebu steers. Five treatments (diets) were evaluated: Cay1: Urochloa hybrid cv. Cayman (harvested after 65 days of regrowth: low quality); Cay2: cv. Cayman harvested after 45 days of regrowth; CayLl: cv. Cayman + Leucaena leucocephala; CayLd: cv. Cayman + Leucaena diversifolia; Hay: Dichantium aristatum hay as a comparator of common naturalized pasture. For each diet representing different levels of intensification (naturalized pasture, improved pasture, and silvopastoral systems), CH 4 emissions were measured using the polytunnel technique with four zebu steers housed in individual chambers. The CH 4 accumulated was monitored using an infrared multigas analyzer, and the voluntary forage intake of each animal was calculated. Dry matter intake (DMI, % of body weight) ranged between 0.77 and 2.94 among diets offered. Emissions of CH 4 per kg of DMI were significantly higher (P < 0.0001) in Cay1 (60.4 g), compared to other treatments. Diets that included Leucaena forage legumes had generally higher crude protein contents and higher DMI. Cay1 and Hay which had low protein content and digestibility had a higher CH 4 emission intensity (per unit live weight gain) compared to Cay2, CayLl and CayLd. Our results suggest that grass consumed after a regrowth period of 45 days results in lower CH 4 emissions intensities compared to those observed following a regrowth period of 65 days. Diets with Leucaena inclusion showed Gaviria-Uribe et al.Methane From Cattle Tropical-Forages advantages in nutrient intake that are reflected in greater live weight gains of cattle. Consequently, the intensity of the emissions generated in the legume-based systems were lower suggesting that they are a good option for achieving the emission reduction goals of sustainable tropical cattle production.

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Methane emissions by beef cattle consuming hay of varying quality in the dry forest ecosystem of Costa Rica

Cited by 14 publications

References 35 publications

Intake, digestibility, growth performance, and enteric methane emission of Brazilian semiarid non-descript breed goats fed diets with different forage to concentrate ratios

Intake, digestibility, growth performance, and enteric methane emission of Brazilian semiarid non-descript breed goats fed diets with different forage to concentrate ratios

Participatory Evaluation of Improved Grasses and Forage Legumes for Smallholder Livestock Production in Central America

Nutritional Quality, Voluntary Intake and Enteric Methane Emissions of Diets Based on Novel Cayman Grass and Its Associations With Two Leucaena Shrub Legumes

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