Reducing Methane Emissions with Animal Feeding Strategies

The methods applied for yield increases per unit animal are also progressing rapidly, along with the rapid progress of agricultural and animal production in parallel with the rapidly developing population and the food demand. The increase in animal products increases the environmental impacts per unit of animal product. With the increase in animal wastes in recent years, greenhouse gas emissions have increased even more, thus negatively affecting the environment and animal health. In order to prevent this negative effect, sustainable methods and strategic measures related to animal feeding and care are important in order to reduce the emission of harmful greenhouse gases. Methane, which is the second most important greenhouse gas, is found in large amounts in the atmosphere as a molecule, the accumulation of this gas in the atmosphere more than CO₂ increases the interest in this subject. Different practices related to the nutrition of ruminant animals (use of feed additives, feeding strategies) in order to optimize rumen conditions and increase productivity per unit animal is a developing area. Sharing this information with animal breeders will also benefit the environment, and therefore human and animal health, in terms of reducing both methane and nitrogen emissions. In ruminant animals, it can cause a loss of 2-12% of the gross energy taken with the feed so that the methane gas can be removed from the body. There are many studies on feeding to reduce nitrogen losses in faeces and urine, which cause methane emissions for ruminants, and many of these studies still do not reach a permanent conclusion. The reduction in enteric CH₄ emissions to be made must be tailored to the specific needs of farmers and livestock, and to be cost-effective. In our study, it is aimed to compile animal feeding strategies and reduction of methane emissions under different conditions.