Enteric methane emission of cattle farming in agricultural systems with cover crops.

RESTOVICH S. ; GERE J. I.; MATTERA J. ; CATTONI I.; ORTIZ CHURA A.; CERÓN CUCCHI M.E.

Conferencia; 8th Greenhouse Gas and Animal Agriculture Conference.; 2022

Integrated cover crops farming, and livestock sequencing systems are diversified agroecosystems that can contribute to ecological intensification, increasing food production, maintaining or improving environmental quality and preserving natural biodiversity. The objective of this study was to quantify enteric methane (CH4) emissions and dry matter intake (DMI) in beef steers under two rotational grazing systems: i) mixture of cover crops (vetch + ryegrass + forage radish) included in a soybean-maize sequence and ii) alfalfa and fescue pasture. The experiment was carried out in the Mixed Systems trial located at the Pergamino Experimental Station of the Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Fresh samples from each treatment were taken regularly to determine chemical composition: crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF). Eighteen Angus steers (251 ±22 kg) were randomly assigned to the 2 treatments (9 steers/group) (cover crops or pasture). The live weight gain (LWG) of steers was recorded every 15d. Enteric CH4 was measured using the sulphur hexafluoride tracer technique during 5 consecutive days. Steers consuming cover crops generated 28% less enteric methane than those consuming pasture (p