Technical note: validation of the GreenFeed system for measuring enteric gas emissions from cattle.

Abstract

There are knowledge gaps in animal agriculture on how to best mitigate greenhouse gas emissions while maintaining animal productivity. One reason for these gaps is the uncertainties associated with methods used to derive emission rates. This study compared emission rates of methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) measured by a commercially available GreenFeed (GF) system with those from (1) a mass flow controller (MFC) that released known quantities of gas over time (i.e., emission rate) and (2) a respiration chamber (RC). The GF and MFC differed by only 1% for CH4 (P = 0.726) and 3% for CO2 (P = 0.013). The difference between the GF and RC was 1% (P = 0.019) for CH4 and 2% for CO2 (P = 0.007). Further investigation revealed that the difference in emission rate for CO2 was due to a small systematic offset error indicating a correction factor could be applied. We conclude that the GF system accurately estimated enteric CH4 and CO2 emission rates of cattle over a short measurement period, but additional factors would need to be considered in determining the 24-hr emission rate of an animal.