Dataset Information

Methane emission by camelids.

ABSTRACT: Methane emissions from ruminant livestock have been intensively studied in order to reduce contribution to the greenhouse effect. Ruminants were found to produce more enteric methane than other mammalian herbivores. As camelids share some features of their digestive anatomy and physiology with ruminants, it has been proposed that they produce similar amounts of methane per unit of body mass. This is of special relevance for countrywide greenhouse gas budgets of countries that harbor large populations of camelids like Australia. However, hardly any quantitative methane emission measurements have been performed in camelids. In order to fill this gap, we carried out respiration chamber measurements with three camelid species (Vicugna pacos, Lama glama, Camelus bactrianus; n?=?16 in total), all kept on a diet consisting of food produced from alfalfa only. The camelids produced less methane expressed on the basis of body mass (0.32±0.11 L kg?¹ d?¹) when compared to literature data on domestic ruminants fed on roughage diets (0.58±0.16 L kg?¹ d?¹). However, there was no significant difference between the two suborders when methane emission was expressed on the basis of digestible neutral detergent fiber intake (92.7±33.9 L kg?¹ in camelids vs. 86.2±12.1 L kg?¹ in ruminants). This implies that the pathways of methanogenesis forming part of the microbial digestion of fiber in the foregut are similar between the groups, and that the lower methane emission of camelids can be explained by their generally lower relative food intake. Our results suggest that the methane emission of Australia's feral camels corresponds only to 1 to 2% of the methane amount produced by the countries' domestic ruminants and that calculations of greenhouse gas budgets of countries with large camelid populations based on equations developed for ruminants are generally overestimating the actual levels.

SUBMITTER: Dittmann MT

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3981797 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Methane emission by camelids.

Dittmann Marie T MT Runge Ullrich U Lang Richard A RA Moser Dario D Galeffi Cordula C Kreuzer Michael M Clauss Marcus M

PloS one 20140409 4

Methane emissions from ruminant livestock have been intensively studied in order to reduce contribution to the greenhouse effect. Ruminants were found to produce more enteric methane than other mammalian herbivores. As camelids share some features of their digestive anatomy and physiology with ruminants, it has been proposed that they produce similar amounts of methane per unit of body mass. This is of special relevance for countrywide greenhouse gas budgets of countries that harbor large popula ...[more]

PMID: 24718604

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Project description:The aim of the present study was to derive individual methane ( CH4 ) emissions in ewes separated in CH4 respiration and eructation traits. The generated longitudinal CH4 data structure was used to estimate phenotypic and genetic relationships between ewe CH4 records and energy efficiency indicator traits from same ewes as well as from their lambs (intergenerational perspective). In this regard, we recorded CH4 emissions via mobile laser methane detector (LMD) technique, body weight (EBW), backfat thickness (BFT) and body condition score (BCS) from 330 ewes (253 Merinoland (ML), 77 Rhön sheep (RH)) and their 629 lambs (478?ML, 151?RH). The interval between repeated measurements (for ewe traits and lamb body weight (LBW)) was 3 weeks during lactation. For methane concentration ( µ L?L -1 ) determinations in the exhaled air, we considered short time measurements (3?min). Afterwards, CH4 emissions were portioned into a respiration and eructation fraction, based on a double normal distribution. Data preparation enabled the following CH4 trait definitions: mean CH4 concentration during respiration and eructation ( CH4r+e ), mean CH4 concentration during respiration ( CH4r ), mean CH4 concentration during eructation ( CH4e ), sum of CH4 concentrations per minute during respiration ( CH4rsum ), sum of CH4 concentrations per minute during eructation ( CH4esum ), maximal CH4 concentration during respiration ( CH4rmax ), maximal CH4 concentration during eructation ( CH4emax ), and eructation events per minute ( CH4event ). Large levels of ewe CH4 emissions representing energy losses were significantly associated with lower LBW ( P<0.05 ), lower EBW ( P<0.01 ) and lower BFT ( P<0.05 ). For genetic parameter estimations, we applied single- and multiple-trait animal models. Heritabilities and additive genetic variances for CH4 traits were small, i.e., heritabilities in the range from <0.01 ( CH4r+e , CH4r , CH4rmax , CH4esum ) to 0.03 ( CH4rsum ). We estimated negative genetic correlations between CH4 traits and EBW in the range from - 0.44 ( CH4r+e ) to - 0.05 ( CH4rsum ). Most of the CH4 traits were genetically negatively correlated with BCS ( - 0.81 for CH4esum ) and with BFT ( - 0.72 for CH4emax ), indicating same genetic mechanisms for CH4 output and energy efficiency indicators. Addressing the intergenerational aspect, genetic correlations between CH4 emissions from ewes and LBW ranged between - 0.35 ( CH4r+e ) and 0.01 ( CH4rsum , CH4rmax ), indicating that breeding on reduced CH4 emissions (especially eructation traits) contribute to genetic improvements in lamb weaning performance.

Dataset Information

Methane emission by camelids.

Publications

Methane emission by camelids.

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