209 Effects of Biochar in Finishing Beef Cattle Diets on Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Abstract

Abstract Two experiments were conducted to evaluate impacts of biochar on methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, performance, and carcass characteristics of finishing beef cattle. Experiment 1 (initial BW = 329 kg ± 19 kg) utilized biochar sourced from pistachio shells (VGrid Energy Systems) in a 70% corn, 20% distillers grains, and 5% corn residue diet. Experiment 2 (initial BW = 386 kg ± 19 kg) utilized biochar sourced from ponderosa pine wood waste (Vital Ag) in a 40% corn, 40% Sweet Bran, and 15% corn silage diet. Both experiments evaluated 2 treatments: control (CON) diet containing no biochar and biochar (BIO) replacing 1% of dietary corn. Pen was the experimental unit with 8 steers per pen and 8 replications. Four replications rotated through a two-chamber emissions barn in 5-d cycles to measure CH4 and CO2 emissions. Cattle performance data were analyzed using the MIXED procedure of SAS with treatment and body weight block as fixed effects and emissions data analyzed as repeated measure. There were no statistical differences in experiment 1 for CH4, g/d (P = 0.75) and g/kg of dry matter intake (DMI; P = 0.99) or CO2 as g/d (P = 0.94) and g/kg DMI (P = 0.88). No impact on cattle performance or carcass characteristics were observed (final BW, DMI, average daily gain, gain to feed, hot carcass weight, longissimus muscle area, USDA quality grade, 12th rib fat; P ≥ 0.21). In experiment 2, there were no statistical differences between treatments for CH4, g/d (P = 0.78) and g/kg DMI (P = 0.84) or CO2, g/d (P = 0.50) and g/kg DMI (P = 0.52). Supplementing biochar at 1% of diet DM did not impact CH4 and CO2 emissions from finishing beef cattle. Cattle performance and carcass characteristics were not impacted by biochar in experiment 1.