Track 1-15: Pastures in Integrated Crop/Livestock Production Systems
Description
Ruminant livestock produce ~80 million tonnes of methane (CH4) annually, accounting for ~33% of global anthropogenic emissions of CH4 (Beauchemin et al. 2008). CH4 is a powerful greenhouse gas, with global warming potential of 25 (Eckard et al. 2010), and represents a significant loss of dietary energy (2 to 12% of gross energy of feeds; Patra 2012) in the ruminant production system. Despite greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have become an increasingly important topic worldwide, there is still a high variability around the estimated values of these emissions, mainly about emissions attributable to livestock (range from 8 to 51%; Herrero et al. 2011). This variability creates confusion among researchers, policy makers and the public, particularly in tropical/sub-tropical regions due substantial uncertainties. Therefore, using rigorous and internationally accepted protocols, a Brazilian national project was established in order to contribute for the estimates of GHG emissions attributable to livestock in Brazilian ruminant production systems. Moreover, enteric CH4 emissions are a major challenge for research, in order to develop technologies and strategies for sustainable ruminant production systems in the future (Eckard et al. 2010).
In recent years, integrated crop-livestock systems (ICLS) have gained interest due to, for example, the abatement of methane from livestock production: directly through a reduction in CH4 per unit of animal products resulting from the increase on feed quality and animal welfare (i.e. improved environmental temperature for ICLS with trees), and indirectly through reduction of area submitted to land use changes (i.e. leading to a loss of soil C stocks). This paper deals with the preliminary results from CH4 emissions by beef heifers grazing in two ICLS (i.e. production system that integrates corn or soybeans crops, during the warm season, and cattle grazing on a cool season pasture, on the same area and in the same cropping year, with or without trees), how these findings contributes to determine the soil C balance and mitigation measures.
Included in
Methane Emissions from Ruminants on Integrated Crop-Livestock Systems
Ruminant livestock produce ~80 million tonnes of methane (CH4) annually, accounting for ~33% of global anthropogenic emissions of CH4 (Beauchemin et al. 2008). CH4 is a powerful greenhouse gas, with global warming potential of 25 (Eckard et al. 2010), and represents a significant loss of dietary energy (2 to 12% of gross energy of feeds; Patra 2012) in the ruminant production system. Despite greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have become an increasingly important topic worldwide, there is still a high variability around the estimated values of these emissions, mainly about emissions attributable to livestock (range from 8 to 51%; Herrero et al. 2011). This variability creates confusion among researchers, policy makers and the public, particularly in tropical/sub-tropical regions due substantial uncertainties. Therefore, using rigorous and internationally accepted protocols, a Brazilian national project was established in order to contribute for the estimates of GHG emissions attributable to livestock in Brazilian ruminant production systems. Moreover, enteric CH4 emissions are a major challenge for research, in order to develop technologies and strategies for sustainable ruminant production systems in the future (Eckard et al. 2010).
In recent years, integrated crop-livestock systems (ICLS) have gained interest due to, for example, the abatement of methane from livestock production: directly through a reduction in CH4 per unit of animal products resulting from the increase on feed quality and animal welfare (i.e. improved environmental temperature for ICLS with trees), and indirectly through reduction of area submitted to land use changes (i.e. leading to a loss of soil C stocks). This paper deals with the preliminary results from CH4 emissions by beef heifers grazing in two ICLS (i.e. production system that integrates corn or soybeans crops, during the warm season, and cattle grazing on a cool season pasture, on the same area and in the same cropping year, with or without trees), how these findings contributes to determine the soil C balance and mitigation measures.
