The present study aims to establish the relationship between chemical composition and in vitro methane (CH4) production of high Andean grasses. For this purpose, eight species were collected in dry and rainy seasons: Alchemilla pinnata, Distichia muscoides, Carex ecuadorica, Hipochoeris taraxacoides, Mulhenbergia fastigiata, Mulhenbergia peruviana, Stipa brachiphylla and Stipa mucronata. They were chemically analyzed and incubated under an in vitro system. Species such as A. pinnata and H. taraxacoides were characterized by high crude protein (CP. 124 g/kg DM) and low neutral detergent fiber (NDF. 293 g/kg DM) contents in both seasons, contrary to Stipa grasses. This same pattern was obtained for H. taraxacoides, which presented the highest values of gas production, organic matter digestibility (DOM), metabolizable energy (ME) and CH4 production (241 mL/g DM, 59% DOM, 8.4 MJ ME/kg DM and 37.7 mL CH4/g DM, on average). For most species, the content of CP, acid detergent fiber (FDA) and ME was higher in the rainy season than in the dry season, which was the opposite for CH4 production (p ≥ 0.05). In general, the nutritional content that most explained the behavior of CH4 production was the NDF content (R2 = 0.69). Grasses characterized by high NDF content produced less CH4 (R = -0.85).
Keywords: forages; gas production; nutritional quality; ruminants.