Abstract #T366
Section: Ruminant Nutrition
Session: Ruminant Nutrition: Beef II
Format: Poster
Day/Time: Tuesday 7:30 AM–9:30 AM
Location: Gatlin Ballroom
Session: Ruminant Nutrition: Beef II
Format: Poster
Day/Time: Tuesday 7:30 AM–9:30 AM
Location: Gatlin Ballroom
# T366
Enteric methane emissions in cattle fed diets containing sugar cane or corn silage.
Lays Mariz1,4, Stefanie Alvarenga Santos2, Laura Franco Prados1, Paloma de Melo Amaral*1,4, Diego Zanetti1, Gustavo Chamon de Castro Menezes1, Sebastiao Valadares Filho1, Antonio Faciola4, Luiz Gustavo Pereira3, 1Federal University of Vicosa, Vicosa, MG, Brazil, 2School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science of the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), Salvador, BA, Brazil, 3Embrapa Dairy Cattle, Juiz de Fora, MG, Brazil, 4University of Nevada, Reno, NV.
Key Words: corn silage, sugar cane, methane emissions
Enteric methane emissions in cattle fed diets containing sugar cane or corn silage.
Lays Mariz1,4, Stefanie Alvarenga Santos2, Laura Franco Prados1, Paloma de Melo Amaral*1,4, Diego Zanetti1, Gustavo Chamon de Castro Menezes1, Sebastiao Valadares Filho1, Antonio Faciola4, Luiz Gustavo Pereira3, 1Federal University of Vicosa, Vicosa, MG, Brazil, 2School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science of the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), Salvador, BA, Brazil, 3Embrapa Dairy Cattle, Juiz de Fora, MG, Brazil, 4University of Nevada, Reno, NV.
The objective of this study was to evaluate enteric methane emissions in cattle fed diets containing sugar cane or corn silage. Five rumen-cannulated steers (336 ± 16.6 kg of initial BW) were used in a 5 × 5 Latin square arrangement. The study lasted 105 d and consisted of 5 periods of 21-d each. Animals were housed and fed individually. The 5 experimental diets contained 60% forage and 40% concentrate. Treatments consisted of 5 different forage sources: corn silage (CS), fresh sugar cane (FSC), regular sugar cane silage (SCS0%), sugar cane silage treated with 0.4% calcium oxide (SCS0.4%), and sugar cane silage treated with 0.8% calcium oxide (SCS0.8%). Forage CP levels were adjusted to 11% using a mixture of urea/ammonium sulfate (9:1). Sulfur hexafluoride tracer gas technique was used to measure methane emissions. Feed intake and refusals were measured daily and methane emissions were measured for 5 consecutive days. Data were analyzed using the MIXED procedure in SAS. Data is presented in Table 1. Animals fed CS had higher DMI (P < 0.01) than animals fed sugar cane. Methane emissions when expressed in g/d or in g/kg of DMI did not change among treatments. However, when expressed in g/kg of digestible NDF (DNDF) was lower for CS diet (P = 0.05). Methane energy loss did not change among diets; however, it was numerically lower for the CS diet. Treated SCS did not improve intake and did not reduce methane emissions. The results from this study suggest that compared with sugar cane diets, corn silage diets may reduce methane emissions per unit of DNDF, which may lead to higher energy efficiency.
Table 1. Mean values for intake and enteric methane emissions in steers
| Item | Treatment | SEM | P-value | ||||
| CS | FSC | SCS 0% | SCS 0.4% | SCS 0.8% | |||
| DMI (kg/d) | 7.11a | 5.23b | 3.87b | 4.29b | 4.08b | 0.26 | 0.01 |
| Methane emissions | |||||||
| g/d | 204.01 | 138.27 | 147.9 | 141.21 | 139.57 | 16.13 | 0.47 |
| g/kg DMI | 23.77 | 26.73 | 37.33 | 30.01 | 30.23 | 432.58 | 0.19 |
| g/kg DNDF | 164.37 | 298.47 | 201.43 | 169.17 | 220.82 | 14.69 | 0.05 |
| Methane energy loss | |||||||
| Gross energy intake (%) | 7.08 | 7.78 | 10.93 | 8.79 | 9.12 | 0.67 | 0.22 |
Key Words: corn silage, sugar cane, methane emissions
