Dietary supplementation with calcium peroxide improves methane mitigation potential of finishing beef cattle.

Calcium peroxide (CaO) offers potential as an anti-methanogenic dietary feed material. The compound has been previously assessed in vitro, with methane (CH) reductions of > 50% observed. The objective of this study was to assess dietary supplementation of CaO at different inclusion levels and physical formats in a finishing beef system on the effects of animal performance, gaseous emissions, rumen fermentation parameters and digestibility.

Novel oxidising feed additives reduce in vitro methane emissions using the rumen simulation technique.

Enteric methane (CH) produced by ruminant livestock is a potent greenhouse gas and represents significant energy loss for the animal. The novel application of oxidising compounds as antimethanogenic agents with future potential to be included in ruminant feeds, was assessed across two separate experiments in this study. Low concentrations of oxidising agents, namely urea hydrogen peroxide (UHP) with and without potassium iodide (KI), and magnesium peroxide (MgO), were investigated for their effects on CH production, total gas production (TGP), volatile fatty acid (VFA) profiles, and nutrient disappearance in vitro using the rumen simulation technique.

Enteric methane emission reduction potential of natural feed supplements in ewe diets.

Research into the potential use of various dietary feed supplements to reduce methane (CH4) production from ruminants has proliferated in recent years. In this study, two 8-wk long experiments were conducted with mature ewes and incorporated the use of a variety of natural dietary feed supplements offered either independently or in combination. Both experiments followed a randomized complete block design.

A model and diagnostic measures for response time series on tests of concentration: historical background, conceptual framework, and some applications.

Based upon classical hypotheses about accumulating mental fatigue and distraction and its effect on response times, put forward in late 19th and early 20th century papers, a mathematical model is proposed for response times on tests of speed and concentration. The model assumes the random occurrence of very short distractions during information processing. It explains fluctuation and the increasing trend in response times on successive equivalent task units and leads to some simple diagnostic RT measures of speed and concentration as alternatives to the mean RT.