Agriculture contributes to the anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide with about 21-25, 60 and 65-80% respectively (Moss et al., 2000). Methane is one of the most important greenhouse gases and is released into the atmosphere both by natural and anthropogenic sources (biomass, ruminants, etc.). The contribution to the CH4 emission of monogastric animals is very low compared with the ruminants. Emissions from ruminant livestock are approximately 250 and 500 litre of CH4/ day. When these CH4 emissions are applied to the number of cattle in the world, the total emissions from cattle is equivalent to about 15% of global CH4 (Johnson et al., 1995).
Concerning ruminants, CH4 is formed during the fermentation of the fiber in the rumen and the amount produced depends on the quality and quantity of the forages.
Feeding legumes compared to grasses tends to reduce CH4, but this relationship is also influenced by the maturity of the forage when it is fed to the animals.
With the advance of the growing season, the fibre content increases in the growing plant, whereas the soluble carbohydrates decrease. Therefore forages harvested in an early development stage usually have a higher digestibility and energy content. Woodward et al.
(2004) concluded that CH4 emissions per mega joule in gross energy decreases when the digestibility of the feed increases. Moreover, legumes produce less CH4 because they have lower NDF content and pass more quickly through the rumen. Methane production can be decreased by grinding and pelleting of forages, due to the decrease of the retention time compared with forages coarsely chopped.
Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that the ratio between propionic and acetic acid has a higher impact on CH4 production. Roughage diets high in cellulose lead to volatile fatty acids with a very high proportion of acetic acid while diets with a high proportion of concentrates (starches) give a large amount of propionic acid and are conducive to reducing ruminal CH4 production.
Also, selecting forages and concentrates high in non fiber carbohydrates may reduce CH4
emissions. NDF is heterogeneous concerning its chemical composition, digestibility, and potential to produce CH4. For example the highly digestible NDF in distillers‘ by-products produces half to one-third of the CH4 per kilogram of DM digested in vitro compared with forages with similar DM digestibilities. It has been reported that digested hemicellulose produces only 37% CH4 relative to digested cellulose. Forage type also influences CH4 production. Tropical grasses (C4) tend to be less digestible than temperate (C3) grasses due to their higher NDF content and greater lignifications, and produce more CH4 per unit of intake.
In contrast, tropical legumes are significantly less digestible and produce less CH4 per unit of intake than temperate legumes (Archimède et al., 2011).
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Editor: Marvin E. Clemens © 2015 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
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