Response to Climate Change: Evaluation of Methane Emissions in Northern Australian Beef Cattle on a High Quality Diet Supplemented with Desmanthus Using Open-Circuit Respiration Chambers and GreenFeed Emission Monitoring Systems

Bénédicte Suybeng; Felista W Mwangi; Christopher S McSweeney; Edward Charmley; Christopher P Gardiner; Bunmi S Malau-Aduli; Aduli E O Malau-Aduli

doi:10.3390/biology10090943

Response to Climate Change: Evaluation of Methane Emissions in Northern Australian Beef Cattle on a High Quality Diet Supplemented with Desmanthus Using Open-Circuit Respiration Chambers and GreenFeed Emission Monitoring Systems

Biology (Basel). 2021 Sep 21;10(9):943. doi: 10.3390/biology10090943.

Authors

Bénédicte Suybeng¹, Felista W Mwangi¹, Christopher S McSweeney², Edward Charmley³, Christopher P Gardiner¹, Bunmi S Malau-Aduli⁴, Aduli E O Malau-Aduli¹

Affiliations

¹ Animal Genetics and Nutrition, Veterinary Sciences Discipline, College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, Division of Tropical Health and Medicine, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4811, Australia.
² CSIRO, Agriculture and Food, Queensland Bioscience Precinct, St. Lucia, QLD 4067, Australia.
³ CSIRO, Agriculture and Food, Private Mail Bag Aitkenvale, Australian Tropical Sciences and Innovation Precinct, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4811, Australia.
⁴ College of Medicine and Dentistry, Division of Tropical Health and Medicine, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4811, Australia.

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to compare the effect of supplementing beef cattle with Desmanthus virgatus cv. JCU2, D. bicornutus cv. JCU4, D. leptophyllus cv. JCU7 and lucerne on in vivo methane (CH₄) 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 Rhodes grass (Chloris gayana) hay in four treatments-the three Desmanthus cultivars and lucerne (Medicago sativa) at 30% dry matter intake (DMI). Polyethylene glycol (PEG) was added to the diets to neutralize tannin binding and explore the effect on CH₄ emissions. Experiment 2 employed GEM and utilized forty-eight animals allocated to four treatments including a basal diet of Rhodes grass hay plus the three Desmanthus 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 CH₄ emissions between the Desmanthus cultivars, between Desmanthus and lucerne or between Desmanthus and the basal diet. Experiment 2 showed an increase in CH₄ emissions in the three levels containing Desmanthus. It is concluded that on high-quality diets, Desmanthus does not reduce CH₄ emissions.

Keywords: Desmanthus bicornutus; Desmanthus leptophyllus; Desmanthus virgatus; GreenFeed; climate change; methane emission; mitigation; polyethylene glycol; tannins; tropical beef cattle.

Abstract

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