Response to Climate Change: Evaluation of Methane Emissions in Northern Australian Beef Cattle on a High Quality Diet Supplemented with <i>Desmanthus</i> Using Open-Circuit Respiration Chambers and GreenFeed Emission Monitoring Systems
2021
Bénédicte Suybeng | Felista W. Mwangi | Christopher S. McSweeney | Edward Charmley | Christopher P. Gardiner | Bunmi S. Malau-Aduli | Aduli E. O. Malau-Aduli
The main objective of this study was to compare the effect of supplementing beef cattle with <i>Desmanthus virgatus</i> cv. JCU2, <i>D. bicornutus</i> cv. JCU4, <i>D. leptophyllus</i> cv. JCU7 and lucerne on in vivo methane (CH<sub>4</sub>) emissions measured by open-circuit respiration chambers (OC) or the GreenFeed emission monitoring (GEM) system. Experiment 1 employed OC and utilized sixteen yearling Brangus steers fed a basal diet of <i>Rhodes grass</i> (<i>Chloris gayana</i>) hay in four treatments—the three <i>Desmanthus</i> cultivars and lucerne (<i>Medicago sativa</i>) at 30% dry matter intake (DMI). Polyethylene glycol (PEG) was added to the diets to neutralize tannin binding and explore the effect on CH<sub>4</sub> emissions. Experiment 2 employed GEM and utilized forty-eight animals allocated to four treatments including a basal diet of <i>Rhodes grass</i> hay plus the three <i>Desmanthus</i> cultivars in equal proportions at 0%, 15%, 30% and 45% DMI. Lucerne was added to equilibrate crude protein content in all treatments. Experiment 1 showed no difference in CH<sub>4</sub> emissions between the <i>Desmanthus</i> cultivars, between <i>Desmanthus</i> and lucerne or between <i>Desmanthus</i> and the basal diet. Experiment 2 showed an increase in CH<sub>4</sub> emissions in the three levels containing <i>Desmanthus</i>. It is concluded that on high-quality diets, <i>Desmanthus</i> does not reduce CH<sub>4</sub> emissions.
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