By using lasers and a breathalyzer to measure the methane cattle emits, researchers are discovering how emissions of that potent greenhouse gas might be reduced by 10 to 15 per cent.
"It's already known that methane emissions are strongly related to feed intake, diet composition and quality and performance traits," said John Basarab, an ALES adjunct professor and Alberta Agriculture and Forestry researcher.
"So accurately monitoring large numbers of animals for their emissions could lead to new mitigation strategies, including the use of genomics to genetically select cattle with lower carbon footprints."
Measurements of what cattle are expelling through belching and respiration is a key piece of information. But measuring their emissions by ushering them into a small chamber one at a time is quite different than measuring what happens when the animals are behaving normally, out in the pasture.
Enter the laser beam and so-called breathalyzer.
Basarab and his team of researchers from Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canadaand Livestock Gentec set up a laser beam tool both up- and downwind of the cattle to measure concentrations of methane in the atmosphere.
Additionally, the breathalyzer - a GreenFeed Emissions Monitoring System - is set up in the field and entices its subjects with small amounts of feed pellets. An animal sticks its head into a feeder where a fan pulls and mixes respired air into a manifold and sampling system that measures continuous concentrations of methane and carbon dioxide while the animal is eating. By monitoring short visits to the feeder several times a day, for 14 days, researchers collect data on both individual animals and larger groups of 30 or 40.
All of this creates "potentially a quicker, non-invasive and less expensive method for measuring methane emissions in cattle, under their near-normal production environment," said Basarab.
So far, the high-tech measuring tools have revealed that breeding animals for lower residual feed intake (RFI) may reduce methane emissions by 10 to 15 per cent over 15 to 25 years of selection.
While methane emitted by beef cattle accounts for 55 to 60 per cent of the total greenhouse gases (GHG) produced by Canadian beef production, only 3.6 per cent of Canada's man-made GHG comes from beef production. That represents just .072 per cent of global man-made GHG.
Despite this low contribution by beef cattle production, consumers and the public are calling for beef products with reduced carbon footprints and improved sustainability attributes, said Basarab. In addition, mitigating practices by the beef industry could be used as carbon offsets by other sectors such as the energy industry, he said.
Meanwhile, other sophisticated technology being used by ALES researchers for similar goals include GPS trackers worn by low and high RFI cattle at the faculty's Mattheis Ranch. There, rangeland ecologist Edward Bork's team monitors how far the cattle are wandering on the 4,800 hectare property, and the forage they're seeking as they do. Those behaviors could also contribute to knowledge about feed efficiency and GHG emissions.
These projects are supported, in part, through funding from the Climate Change and Emissions Management Corporation's biological GHG management program, which is administered through Alberta Innovates Bio Solutions, and the Alberta Meat and Livestock Agency.
"It's already known that methane emissions are strongly related to feed intake, diet composition and quality and performance traits," said John Basarab, an ALES adjunct professor and Alberta Agriculture and Forestry researcher.
"So accurately monitoring large numbers of animals for their emissions could lead to new mitigation strategies, including the use of genomics to genetically select cattle with lower carbon footprints."
Measurements of what cattle are expelling through belching and respiration is a key piece of information. But measuring their emissions by ushering them into a small chamber one at a time is quite different than measuring what happens when the animals are behaving normally, out in the pasture.
Enter the laser beam and so-called breathalyzer.
Basarab and his team of researchers from Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canadaand Livestock Gentec set up a laser beam tool both up- and downwind of the cattle to measure concentrations of methane in the atmosphere.
Additionally, the breathalyzer - a GreenFeed Emissions Monitoring System - is set up in the field and entices its subjects with small amounts of feed pellets. An animal sticks its head into a feeder where a fan pulls and mixes respired air into a manifold and sampling system that measures continuous concentrations of methane and carbon dioxide while the animal is eating. By monitoring short visits to the feeder several times a day, for 14 days, researchers collect data on both individual animals and larger groups of 30 or 40.
All of this creates "potentially a quicker, non-invasive and less expensive method for measuring methane emissions in cattle, under their near-normal production environment," said Basarab.
So far, the high-tech measuring tools have revealed that breeding animals for lower residual feed intake (RFI) may reduce methane emissions by 10 to 15 per cent over 15 to 25 years of selection.
While methane emitted by beef cattle accounts for 55 to 60 per cent of the total greenhouse gases (GHG) produced by Canadian beef production, only 3.6 per cent of Canada's man-made GHG comes from beef production. That represents just .072 per cent of global man-made GHG.
Despite this low contribution by beef cattle production, consumers and the public are calling for beef products with reduced carbon footprints and improved sustainability attributes, said Basarab. In addition, mitigating practices by the beef industry could be used as carbon offsets by other sectors such as the energy industry, he said.
Meanwhile, other sophisticated technology being used by ALES researchers for similar goals include GPS trackers worn by low and high RFI cattle at the faculty's Mattheis Ranch. There, rangeland ecologist Edward Bork's team monitors how far the cattle are wandering on the 4,800 hectare property, and the forage they're seeking as they do. Those behaviors could also contribute to knowledge about feed efficiency and GHG emissions.
These projects are supported, in part, through funding from the Climate Change and Emissions Management Corporation's biological GHG management program, which is administered through Alberta Innovates Bio Solutions, and the Alberta Meat and Livestock Agency.