Methane Production in Dairy Cows, Inhibition, Measurement, and Predicting Models

Abstract

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that is produced in many sectors. Agriculture and, more specifically, livestock contribute to this phenomenon. Methane is produced as a result of fermentation in the rumen of dairy cows with a significant amount of gas being released in the atmosphere via the mouth of ruminants. The total intake is the main factor influencing methane production followed by digestibility, fat, and the amount of fibre in the diet. Many strategies exist to reduce methane emissions such as chemicals, essential oils, and the red macroalgae in the diet of dairy cows. The majority of these strategies are either expensive or not feasible to use in a long-term period of time since the microbes in the rumen will adapt to this change. There is a wide range of methods and tools to measure methane emissions both in vitro and in vivo. The respiration chamber is the golden method to measure and quantify the fluxes (methane emissions) in dairy cows. In some cases where measurements of methane are impossible, vitro techniques together with modelling approaches could be used to predict methane emissions. Empirical and mechanistic modelling is a technique widely used to predict methane emissions. In this case by knowing some feed and animal characteristics methane could be reliably estimated.