Journal ArticleDOI
Ruminant enteric methane mitigation: a review
TLDR
In this paper, a review of strategies for reducing ruminant methane output are considered in relation to rumen ecology and biochemistry, animal breeding and management options at an animal, farm, or national level.Abstract:
In Australia, agriculture is responsible for ~17% of total greenhouse gas emissions with ruminants being the largest single source. However, agriculture is likely to be shielded from the full impact of any future price on carbon. In this review, strategies for reducing ruminant methane output are considered in relation to rumen ecology and biochemistry, animal breeding and management options at an animal, farm, or national level. Nutritional management strategies have the greatest short-term impact. Methanogenic microorganisms remove H2 produced during fermentation of organic matter in the rumen and hind gut. Cost-effective ways to change the microbial ecology to reduce H2 production, to re-partition H2 into products other than methane, or to promote methanotrophic microbes with the ability to oxidise methane still need to be found. Methods of inhibiting methanogens include: use of antibiotics; promoting viruses/bacteriophages; use of feed additives such as fats and oils, or nitrate salts, or dicarboxylic acids; defaunation; and vaccination against methanogens. Methods of enhancing alternative H2 using microbial species include: inoculating with acetogenic species; feeding highly digestible feed components favouring ‘propionate fermentations’; and modifying rumen conditions. Conditions that sustain acetogen populations in kangaroos and termites, for example, are poorly understood but might be extended to ruminants. Mitigation strategies are not in common use in extensive grazing systems but dietary management or use of growth promotants can reduce methane output per unit of product. New, natural compounds that reduce rumen methane output may yet be found. Smaller but more permanent benefits are possible using genetic approaches. The indirect selection criterion, residual feed intake, when measured on ad libitum grain diets, has limited relevance for grazing cattle. There are few published estimates of genetic parameters for feed intake and methane production. Methane-related single nucleotide polymorphisms have yet to be used commercially. As a breeding objective, the use of methane/kg product rather than methane/head is recommended. Indirect selection via feed intake may be more cost-effective than via direct measurement of methane emissions. Life cycle analyses indicate that intensification is likely to reduce total greenhouse gas output but emissions and sequestration from vegetation and soil need to be addressed. Bio-economic modelling suggests most mitigation options are currently not cost-effective.read more
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Book Chapter
Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU)
Pete Smith,Mercedes M. C. Bustamante,Helal Ahammad,Harry Clark,Hongmin Dong,Elnour A. Elsiddig,Helmut Haberl,Richard J. Harper,Joanna Isobel House,Mostafa Jafari,Omar Masera,Cheikh Mbow,N. H. Ravindranath,Charles W. Rice,Carmenza Robledo Abad,Anna Romanovskaya,Frank Sperling,Francesco N. Tubiello +17 more
TL;DR: Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Use (AFOLU) is unique among the sectors considered in this volume, since the mitigation potential is derived from both an enhancement of removals of greenhouse gases (GHG), as well as reduction of emissions through management of land and livestock as discussed by the authors.
Journal ArticleDOI
Special topics--Mitigation of methane and nitrous oxide emissions from animal operations: I. A review of enteric methane mitigation options.
Alexander N. Hristov,Joonpyo Oh,Jeffrey L. Firkins,Jan Dijkstra,Ermias Kebreab,G. Waghorn,H. P. S. Makkar,Adegbola T. Adesogan,W.Z. Yang,Chanhee Lee,Pierre J. Gerber,Benjamin B. Henderson,J.M. Tricarico +12 more
TL;DR: Improve forage quality and the overall efficiency of dietary nutrient use is an effective way of decreasing CH4 Ei, and several feed supplements have a potential to reduce CH4 emission from ruminants although their long-term effect has not been well established and some are toxic or may not be economically feasible.
Journal ArticleDOI
Greenhouse gas mitigation potentials in the livestock sector
Mario Herrero,Benjamin B. Henderson,Petr Havlik,Philip K. Thornton,Philip K. Thornton,Richard T. Conant,Pete Smith,Stefan Wirsenius,Stefan Wirsenius,Alexander N. Hristov,P.J. Gerber,Margaret Gill,Klaus Butterbach-Bahl,Klaus Butterbach-Bahl,Hugo Valin,Tara Garnett,Elke Stehfest +16 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors estimated that between 1995 and 2005, the livestock sector was responsible for greenhouse gas emissions of 5.6-7.5GtCO(2)e yr(-1).
Mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions in livestock production - A review of technical options for non-CO2 emissions
Alexander N. Hristov,Joonpyo Oh,C. Lee,Robert J. Meinen,F. Montes,Troy L. Ott,Jeffrey L. Firkins,A. Rotz,Curtis J. Dell,C. Adesogan,W.Z. Yang,J.M. Tricarico,Ermias Kebreab,G. Waghorn,Jan Dijkstra,S.J. Oosting +15 more
TL;DR: In this article, the potential of nutritional, manure and animal husbandry practices for mitigating methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from livestock production was evaluated.
Journal ArticleDOI
An inhibitor persistently decreased enteric methane emission from dairy cows with no negative effect on milk production
Alexander N. Hristov,Joonpyo Oh,F. Giallongo,T. Frederick,M.T. Harper,H. L. Weeks,Antonio Ferriani Branco,Peter J. Moate,M. H. Deighton,S. Richard O. Williams,Maik Kindermann,Stephane Duval +11 more
TL;DR: The experiment demonstrated that the methane inhibitor 3NOP, applied at 40 to 80 mg/kg feed dry matter, decreased methane emissions from high-producing dairy cows by 30% and increased body weight gain without negatively affecting feed intake or milk production and composition.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Prediction of Total Genetic Value Using Genome-Wide Dense Marker Maps
TL;DR: It was concluded that selection on genetic values predicted from markers could substantially increase the rate of genetic gain in animals and plants, especially if combined with reproductive techniques to shorten the generation interval.
Journal ArticleDOI
Methane emissions from cattle.
TL;DR: Knowing the factors that impact methane production can result in the development of mitigation strategies to reduce methane losses by cattle and implementation of these strategies should result in enhanced animal productivity and decreased contributions by cattle to the atmospheric methane budget.
Journal ArticleDOI
Investigation of chromium, cerium and cobalt as markers in digesta. Rate of passage studies
TL;DR: A new liquid marker, cobalt-ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA), and two solid markers, chromium (Cr) and cerium (Ce) mordanted plant cell walls, were investigated and Co- EDTA was found to be comparable to Cr-EDTA.
Journal ArticleDOI
Methane-consuming archaebacteria in marine sediments
TL;DR: Studies of sediments related to a decomposing methane hydrate provide strong evidence that methane is being consumed by archaebacteria that are phylogenetically distinct from known methanogens.