Butterbach-Bahl, Klaus

Dickhoefer, U.

Eckard, R.

Goopy, John P.

Korir, Daniel

Marquardt, Svenja

Merbold, Lutz

Sanchez, A.

English

Eckard, Richard

Sánchez, A.

CGSpace

Better lives through livestockEnteric methane production from cattle fed on three tropical grasses in East AfricaDaniel Korir1,2, Svenja Marquardt1, Richard Eckard2, Alan Sanchez3, Uta Dickhoefer3, Lutz Merbold1, K. Butterbach-Bahl1,4 and John Goopy1,21International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Kenya, 2University of Melbourne, Fac. of Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences, Australia, 3University of Hohenheim, Inst. of Agric. Sci. in the Tropics, Germany, 4 Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, GermanyTropentag virtual conference 202010/09/20202Introduction• Livestock production is an important source of livelihood and nutrition to the vulnerable communities in the tropics, with more than 80% of subsistence farmers in Africa owning livestock (FAO, 2009).• Ruminant production in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is dominated by small and medium scale farmers – owning up to 70% of the cattle in the region. • Low animal productivity – mainly as a result of low quantity and quality of feed.3introduction • Planted grasses form the main feed resource for cattle among smallholder farmers under crop- livestock systems in humid zones• Changing climatic conditions and emerging diseases are negatively affectingproductivity of commonly grown grasses (Napier and Rhodes var.)• Led to Introduction of new/improved species that tolerate  drought and diseases.• For greenhouse gas reporting, many SSA countries – IPCC Tier 1- high uncertainty level4Aim of the present work• To study the nutritive value of cultivated grasses in Kenya (inconclusive data available);• To measure enteric methane emission from cattle fed planted grasses using methane respiration chambers – accurate in situ method - gold standard5Materials and methodsAnimal feeding experiment;• Animals: Growing Boran steers (n=18, live weight (LW): 216 ± 6 kg) • Diets: Freshly cut Pennisetum purpureum var. Kakamega 1 (Napier), Chloris gayanavar. Boma (Rhodes) or Brachiaria brizantha var. Xaraes (Brachiaria)Napier Rhodes Brachiaria6Materials and methods• Two feeding periods each running for  70 days. • Parameters measured:✓ Voluntary nutrient intake, ✓ apparent total tract digestibility, ✓ LW gain and,✓ enteric methane production (respiration chambers)7Results_ Chemical composition and intake0.01.02.03.0Mean DMI (kg/100kg LW)DietMean Daily intakeDietDM (g/kg)OM (g/kg)CP   (g/kg)NDF (g/kg)ADF (g/kg)GE    (Mj/kg)Napier 162±10 850±7 89±6 664±11 383±7 16.1±0.14Rhodes 278±10 893±4 77±5 695±7 386±5 17.0±0.09Brachiaria 256±8 885±4 83±4 668±6 370±5 16.8±0.06Table 1: Dry matter (DM), Organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP),Neutral and acid detergent fibre (NDF and ADF), and gross energyof Napier, Rhodes and Brachiaria grasses• No difference on DM intake among the 3 treatments P = 0.378Table 2: Organic matter digestibility (DOM), average daily weight gain (ADG), methane yield (MY) (g/kg intake) and methane conversion rate (Ym) of Boran steers (n=18; Avg. 216 kg) fed on freshly cut Napier, Rhodes and Brachiaria grasses Results _ Digestibility, weight gain and methane productionParameter Rhodes Napier Brachiaria SEM P valueDOM% 57.1a 64.0b 61.0a,b 1.37 0.0076ADG (g/day) 403 449 468 36.3 0.41MY (g/kg DM) 26.7 28.5 27.5 0.77 0.26Ym (% of GEI) 8.73a 9.87b 9.03a,b 0.252 0.0127IPCC (2019)23.37.0GEI: gross energy intake; SEM: standard error of mean; IPCC: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 9• Our findings suggest that East African cattle could be having higher emissions (MY and Ym) than currently estimated by IPCC 2019 (non-dairy cows on high forage diet) – need for more similar studies• Improved Brachiaria grass species may only benefit livestock production if management and nutrient input match the species potential - need to integrate better fodder management – Native soils are known to be low in nitrogen  Conclusion10• Need more on enteric  methane emissions from Boran cattle in East Africa• Grass legume integration/ compatibility studies to improve the nitrogen status grass qualityOpportunities going forward;11Thank you for your audiencehttps://mazingira.ilri.org/

Enteric methane production from cattle fed on three tropical grasses in East Africa

https://cgspace.cgiar.org/bitstream/10568/109676/1/tropentag2020_Daniel.pdf

Enteric methane production from cattle fed on three tropical grasses in East Africa

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