Methane emissions and mitigation: Viewpoint from operations of different scale

Abstract

Methane emissions from cattle production systems are of increasing concern in broad sections of the population. The nutritional origin of enteric methane generation and the rapid response it undergoes in response to altered feeding practices, has led to nutrition management being the most studied of mitigation strategies. The object of the present paper is to present some of the research results obtained at the School of Agronomy of Buenos Aires University on the relationship between nutrition and CH4 emissions. In vitro techniques were used to compare the methanogenic capacities of different forages and the effects of aqueous and alcoholic extracts of condensed tannins thereon. The parallel development of a simulation model has permitted prediction of CH4 production with respect to several variables measured at farm level.