Supplementing northern Australian beef cattle with Desmanthus tropical legume reduces in vivo methane emissions
Suybeng, Benedicte;
Charmley, Ed
2020-11-11
Journal Article
Animals
10
17 p
This study objectives were to investigate enteric methane emissions in beef cattle in response to incremental supplementation with two species of Desmanthus (Desmanthus leptophyllus cv. JCU1 and D. bicornutus cv. JCU4). Seven Droughtmaster steers were allocated to each of the two Desmanthus cultivars and were fed Rhodes Grass (Chloris gayana) hay plus fresh Desmanthus at 0, 15, 22, and 31% of dry matter in each period. Every period lasted at least 14 days and methane production was measured by open-circuit gas exchange in the last 2 days of every period. The results showed a linear reduction in methane yield (CH4 yield (g/kg DMI) = 19.92 – 0.066X, where X is the % Desmanthus in the diet). Albeit methane yield was negatively correlated to the percentage of condensed tannins in the diet (p = 0.035), the added tannin binder polyethylene glycol-4000 did not impact methane yield. Consequently, in this low-quality diet the anti-methanogenic response may be a combination of rumen fermentation and tannin effects. The polyethylene glycol-4000 supplementation increased rumen ammonia-N and iso-acid concentrations suggesting the Desmanthus tannin ability to bind rumen proteins. Increasing the Desmanthus proportion in the diet increased dry matter intake, rumen volatile fatty acids concentration and acetate/propionate ratio.
MDPI
methane emission, mitigation, tannins, tropical beef cattle, desmanthus leptophyllus, desmanthus bicornutus, phenolics, legumes, polyethylene glycol, greenhous gas
Animal Nutrition
https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10112097
| Funding Body Name | Project/Grant ID |
|---|---|
| Meat and Livestock Australia | P.PSH.1055 |
EP208592
Journal article - Refereed
English
Suybeng, Benedicte; Charmley, Ed. Supplementing northern Australian beef cattle with Desmanthus tropical legume reduces in vivo methane emissions. Animals. 2020; 10:17 p. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10112097
Loading citation data...
Citation counts
(Requires subscription to view)