Weight gain and enteric methane production of cattle fed on tropical grasses
Context: Planted grasses are becoming an increasingly important feed resource for tropical smallholder ruminant production; yet, limited research has been conducted to quantify productivity or enteric methane (CH4) production of animals consuming these grasses. Aim: An experiment was conducted to a...
| Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Formato: | Journal Article |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
2023
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/125071 |
| _version_ | 1855528199499284480 |
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| author | Korir, Daniel Marquardt, Svenja Eckard, Richard Sánchez, Andrea C. Dickhoefer, Uta Merbold, Lutz Butterbach-Bahl, Klaus Jones, Christopher S. Robertson-Dean, M. Goopy, John P. |
| author_browse | Butterbach-Bahl, Klaus Dickhoefer, Uta Eckard, Richard Goopy, John P. Jones, Christopher S. Korir, Daniel Marquardt, Svenja Merbold, Lutz Robertson-Dean, M. Sánchez, Andrea C. |
| author_facet | Korir, Daniel Marquardt, Svenja Eckard, Richard Sánchez, Andrea C. Dickhoefer, Uta Merbold, Lutz Butterbach-Bahl, Klaus Jones, Christopher S. Robertson-Dean, M. Goopy, John P. |
| author_sort | Korir, Daniel |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | Context: Planted grasses are becoming an increasingly important feed resource for tropical smallholder ruminant production; yet, limited research has been conducted to quantify productivity or enteric methane (CH4) production of animals consuming these grasses.
Aim: An experiment was conducted to assess yields and nutritional attributes of the following three tropical grasses: Cenchrus purpureus var. Kakamega 1 (Napier), Chloris gayana var. Boma (Rhodes) and Urochloa brizantha var. Xaeres (Brachiaria), and quantify enteric CH4 production of cattle fed on them.
Methods: Yearling Boran steers (n:18; initial liveweight 216 ± 5.8 kg (mean ± s.e.m.) were allocated to one of three grasses, in a completely randomised design and fed ad libitum for two feeding periods, each period lasting for 70 days. Intake, liveweight (LW), apparent total-tract digestibility and enteric CH4 production were assessed. The grasses used were grown on site and biomass yields were monitored over a 2-year period. Animal growth was also simulated to a final weight of 350 kg, and the amount of feed and size of land required to produce, and days to reach final weight, were estimated.
Key results: Mean voluntary dry-matter intake (DMI) and ADG were higher (P < 0.05) in Period 2 than in Period 1, but did not differ among treatments (P > 0.05) within period. Methane yield (MY; CH4 g/DMI kg) was similar among treatments (26.7–28.5, P = 0.26) but Napier had a higher CH4 conversion factor [Ym; CH4 (MJ)/gross energy intake (MJ)] than did Rhodes and Brachiaria (0.0987 vs 0.0873 and 0.0903 respectively; P = 0.013). Our modelling indicated that steers consuming Rhodes took at least 30 more days to reach the target LW, required larger land area for feed production and produced more enteric CH4 than did the other two diets.
Conclusion: Even though animal performance and MY among treatments did not differ, the animals had higher MY and Ym than currently estimated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Implication: The three grasses supported similar animal growth rate, implying that growing of higher-yielding grasses such as Napier offers an opportunity to optimise land productivity in the tropics. However, suitable feeding practices such as protein supplementation need to be explored to enhance ruminant production and reduce enteric CH4 production. |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | CGSpace125071 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| publishDateRange | 2023 |
| publishDateSort | 2023 |
| publisher | Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation |
| publisherStr | Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1250712025-12-08T09:54:28Z Weight gain and enteric methane production of cattle fed on tropical grasses Korir, Daniel Marquardt, Svenja Eckard, Richard Sánchez, Andrea C. Dickhoefer, Uta Merbold, Lutz Butterbach-Bahl, Klaus Jones, Christopher S. Robertson-Dean, M. Goopy, John P. animal feeding cattle methane emission Context: Planted grasses are becoming an increasingly important feed resource for tropical smallholder ruminant production; yet, limited research has been conducted to quantify productivity or enteric methane (CH4) production of animals consuming these grasses. Aim: An experiment was conducted to assess yields and nutritional attributes of the following three tropical grasses: Cenchrus purpureus var. Kakamega 1 (Napier), Chloris gayana var. Boma (Rhodes) and Urochloa brizantha var. Xaeres (Brachiaria), and quantify enteric CH4 production of cattle fed on them. Methods: Yearling Boran steers (n:18; initial liveweight 216 ± 5.8 kg (mean ± s.e.m.) were allocated to one of three grasses, in a completely randomised design and fed ad libitum for two feeding periods, each period lasting for 70 days. Intake, liveweight (LW), apparent total-tract digestibility and enteric CH4 production were assessed. The grasses used were grown on site and biomass yields were monitored over a 2-year period. Animal growth was also simulated to a final weight of 350 kg, and the amount of feed and size of land required to produce, and days to reach final weight, were estimated. Key results: Mean voluntary dry-matter intake (DMI) and ADG were higher (P < 0.05) in Period 2 than in Period 1, but did not differ among treatments (P > 0.05) within period. Methane yield (MY; CH4 g/DMI kg) was similar among treatments (26.7–28.5, P = 0.26) but Napier had a higher CH4 conversion factor [Ym; CH4 (MJ)/gross energy intake (MJ)] than did Rhodes and Brachiaria (0.0987 vs 0.0873 and 0.0903 respectively; P = 0.013). Our modelling indicated that steers consuming Rhodes took at least 30 more days to reach the target LW, required larger land area for feed production and produced more enteric CH4 than did the other two diets. Conclusion: Even though animal performance and MY among treatments did not differ, the animals had higher MY and Ym than currently estimated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Implication: The three grasses supported similar animal growth rate, implying that growing of higher-yielding grasses such as Napier offers an opportunity to optimise land productivity in the tropics. However, suitable feeding practices such as protein supplementation need to be explored to enhance ruminant production and reduce enteric CH4 production. 2023-01-19 2022-10-18T05:50:33Z 2022-10-18T05:50:33Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/125071 en Open Access Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation Korir, D., Marquardt, S., Eckard, R., Sanchez, A., Dickhoefer, U., Merbold, L., Butterbach-Bahl, K., Jones, C.S., Robertson-Dean, M. and Goopy, J. 2022. Weight gain and enteric methane production of cattle fed on tropical grasses. Animal Production Science |
| spellingShingle | animal feeding cattle methane emission Korir, Daniel Marquardt, Svenja Eckard, Richard Sánchez, Andrea C. Dickhoefer, Uta Merbold, Lutz Butterbach-Bahl, Klaus Jones, Christopher S. Robertson-Dean, M. Goopy, John P. Weight gain and enteric methane production of cattle fed on tropical grasses |
| title | Weight gain and enteric methane production of cattle fed on tropical grasses |
| title_full | Weight gain and enteric methane production of cattle fed on tropical grasses |
| title_fullStr | Weight gain and enteric methane production of cattle fed on tropical grasses |
| title_full_unstemmed | Weight gain and enteric methane production of cattle fed on tropical grasses |
| title_short | Weight gain and enteric methane production of cattle fed on tropical grasses |
| title_sort | weight gain and enteric methane production of cattle fed on tropical grasses |
| topic | animal feeding cattle methane emission |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/125071 |
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