The relationship between enteric methane emissions and feed efficiency in growing Angus beef bulls

Abstract
Residual Feed Intake (RFI) and enteric methane (CH4) emissions were measured over two years on 120 Angus bulls receiving either a silage-hay diet or a silage-grain diet (277±28 and 286±25 d of age in year 1; 249±23 and 250±23 d of age in year 2). Emissions were similar between diets (240 vs. 248  7.9 L d-1, P>0.05; silage-hay vs. silage-grain) and RFI grouping (P>0.05). DMI increased for high RFI bulls versus low RFI bulls (7.68±0.2 and 8.24±0.2 kg DM d-1, low vs. high). Correlations between RFIfat and CH4 emissions were not significant. These findings agree with previous studies and suggest that RFI ranking may be associated with metabolic mechanisms other than fermentation efficiency.
Description
Keywords
CH4, Methane, RFI, Residual Feed Intake, Beef, Cattle, CO2, Enteric Emissions
Citation