A partial life cycle assessment of the greenhouse gas mitigation potential of feeding 3-nitrooxypropanol and nitrate to cattle

Abstract

Agricultural industries are faced with the challenge to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) such as nitrous oxide (N2O), carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4). Approximately 27% of the GHG emissions generated by agriculture and 80% of the GHG emissions generated by livestock are in the form of CH4 from enteric fermentation and manure management. Two feed additives that have been shown to decrease enteric CH4 emissions are 3-nitrooxypropanol (3-NOP) and nitrate. However, data are lacking on the net impact of these CH4 mitigating additives on whole farm GHG emissions across different production systems. The objectives of this partial life cycle assessment (LCA) were: 1) to analys..