Journal article
Modified approach to estimating daily methane emissions of dairy cows by measuring filtered eructations during milking
Matt J Bell, Phil Garnsworthy, Dimitris Mallis, Richard Eckard, Peter Moate, Tianhai Yan
LANDBAUFORSCHUNG | JOHANN HEINRICH VON THUNEN INST-VTI | Published : 2019
Abstract
The aim of this study was to compare metrics for quantifying enteric methane (CH4) emissions from individual cows during milking using frequent spot measurements and peak analysis methods. An infrared gas analyser was used to measure the CH4 emitted by cows, and eructation peaks were identified using a Signal Processing Toolbox provided by Matlab. CH4 emissions were quantified by gas peak height, peak amplitude and average concentration, and were expressed in grams per day and CH4 yield (grams per kilogram of dry matter intake (DMI)). Peak analysis measurements of CH4 were obtained from 36 cows during 2,474 milkings, during which cows were fed a ration containing between 39 and 70 % forage. ..
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Funding Acknowledgements
This work was funded by Defra, the Scottish Government, DARD, Welsh Government (as part of the UK's Agricultural GHG Research Platform project), the Australian Department of Agriculture, Dairy Australia, Meat and Livestock Aus-tralia, the University of Melbourne, DARD and AgriSearch. The authors are grateful for the assistance from technicians and farm staff.