Nutritional Manipulation as a Strategy to Mitigate Enteric Methane Emissions from Livestock – A Review

Abstract

Pakistan maintains a livestock population of over 186 million, with a growth rate of 3.3%. Methane emissions in Pakistan peaked at a historic high of 227.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2021. Thus, improving feed efficiency and production performance along with reducing enteric methane emissions are the main goals to achieve sustainable livestock and an environmentally friendly production system without the occurrence of global warming, heat stress, floods due to melting ice in some regions, and other disasters. Furthermore, to achieve sustainable livestock production, accurate feeding programs and feed additives must be followed in the correct proportions. In Pakistan, affordable feed additives such as ionophores, tannins, saponins, essential oils, probiotics, macroalgae, biochar, and dietary lipids reduce methane emissions and improve animal digestibility, immunity, and productivity. In this review, the importance of those feed additives is highlighted to achieve sustainable and environmentally friendly animal production. This review concluded that applying feed additives to animal diets positively impacts production performance and global climate. By conducting more studies on these strategies, Pakistan can enhance the quality and quantity of animal products, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.