Methane emissions and rumen microbiome response during compensatory growth on either a forage or grain-based finishing diet in beef cattle.

The aim of this experiment was to evaluate the effect of the level of prior nutritional restriction during backgrounding in Angus steers on methane (CH) emissions, diet digestibility, rumen fermentation, and ruminal microbiome under either a forage or grain-based finishing diet. Eighty steers (body weight [BW]: 444 ± 39 kg, age: 18 ± 1 mo) were blocked and randomly assigned within the block to either an (0.6 to 0.

Beef Steers and Enteric Methane: Reducing Emissions by Managing Forage Diet Fiber Content.

Understanding the methane (CH) emissions that are produced by enteric fermentation is one of the main problems to be solved for livestock, due to their GHG effects. These emissions are affected by the quantity and quality of their diets, thus, it is key to accurately define the intake and fiber content (NDF) of these forage diets. On the other hand, different emission prediction equations have been developed; however, there are scarce and uncertain results regarding their evaluation of the emissions that have been observed in forage diets.

Meta-analysis of global livestock urine-derived nitrous oxide emissions from agricultural soils.

Nitrous oxide (N O) is an air pollutant of major environmental concern, with agriculture representing 60% of anthropogenic global N O emissions. Much of the N O emissions from livestock production systems result from transformation of N deposited to soil within animal excreta. There exists a substantial body of literature on urine patch N O dynamics, we aimed to identify key controlling factors influencing N O emissions and to aid understanding of knowledge gaps to improve GHG reporting and prioritize future research.

Association between residual feed intake and enteric methane emissions in Hereford steers.

The objective of this study was to quantify the emissions of enteric CH from growing Hereford steers raised under feedlot conditions based on contrasting levels of residual feed intake (RFI). A repeated measurements experiment was conducted over 20 d to determine CH production from two groups of nine Hereford steers, with contrasting RFI values (mean ± SD): low RFI (LRFI group; -0.78 ± 0.

Non-destructive determination of maize leaf and canopy chlorophyll content.

The objective of this study was to develop a rapid non-destructive technique to estimate total chlorophyll (Chl) content in a maize canopy using Chl content in a single leaf. The approach was (1) to calibrate and validate a reflectance-based non-destructive technique to estimate leaf Chl in maize; (2) to quantify the relative contribution of each leaf Chl to the total Chl in the canopy; and (3) to establish a relationship between leaf Chl content and total Chl in a maize canopy. The Red Edge Chlorophyll Index CI(red edge)=(R(NIR)/R(red edge))-1 based on reflectances, R, in the red edge (720-730nm) and near infrared (770-800nm) was found to be an accurate measure of maize leaf Chl.