453 Fluxes of greenhouse gases from pastures and methane emissions from beef cattle in Australia

Abstract

Abstract The carbon footprint of beef cattle production may need to consider both the fluxes of greenhouse gases (GHG) of pasture ecosystems and cattle enteric emissions because these are the largest contributors to the carbon balance. The objective of the present study was to measure the fluxes of greenhouse gases from pastures and enteric methane (CH4) emissions from cattle throughout long periods of time under commercial conditions. The fluxes of CH4, carbon dioxide (CO2), and nitrous oxide (N2O) were measured throughout a period of 3 yr in multiple pasture types ranging from native to sown, and from temperate to summer pastures in New South Wales, Australia. A set of 8 dynamic chambers that automatically close for 10 min every 1.5 h were used for this purpose. The chambers measured the change in the concentration of GHG to allow for the estimation of emissions (positive flux) or sinks (negative flux). All data was then summarized to estimate daily fluxes and the global warming potential (CO2e) was calculated multiplying CH4 by 28 and N2O by 265. The final dataset contained 2,709 d of measurements across the 8 chambers. The GreenFeed system was used to measure CH4 production from cattle under varying conditions fed various diets throughout the same period. Cattle categories included weaners, heifers and steers, bulls and cows under both grazing or pen conditions. Cattle were fed a variety of diets ranging from low quality forages to high quality forages, grain supplementation, and grain-based diets. Data were averaged across many days for each animal and the final dataset contained 1,014 measurements. The CO2 flux from pastures ranged from -855 (uptake) to +339 kg CO2ּ ha-1ּ d-1 with a mean of -10.4 ± 2.19 kg CO2ּ ha-1ּ d-1. The minimum, mean and maximum CH4 fluxes were -192 (uptake), 0.015 ± 0.488, 434 g CH4 ּha-1ּ d-1, respectively, whereas NO2 values -146 (uptake), 17.1 ± 1.23, 1,293 g N2O ּ ha-1ּ d-1, respectively. These fluxes resulted in a GWP ranging from -855 (uptake), -5.83 ± 2.222, 445 kg CO2e ּha-1ּ d-1suggesting that pastures were on average a net sink of GHG throughout the present study. The CH4 production from cattle ranged from 43.6 to 404.6, with an average CH4 production of 192 ± 90.3 g CH4ּ animal-1ּ d-1, which is equivalent to 5.37 kg CO2eqּ animal-1ּ d-1. These results suggest that a hectare of livestock pastures offsets more than the CH4 produced by the average beef cattle in the present study. The fluxes of GHG from vegetation may need to be considered when estimating the contribution of livestock production to global warming.