Journal article
Potential use of Acacia mearnsii condensed tannins to reduce methane emissions and nitrogen excretion from grazing dairy cows
C Grainger, T Clarke, MJ Auldist, KA Beauchemin, SM McGinn, GC Waghorn, RJ Eckard
CANADIAN JOURNAL OF ANIMAL SCIENCE | CANADIAN SCIENCE PUBLISHING | Published : 2009
DOI: 10.4141/CJAS08110
Abstract
We measured the effect of condensed tannins (CT) extracted from the bark of the Black Wattle tree (Acacia mearnsii) on the milk production, methane emissions, nitrogen (N) balance and energy partitioning of lactating dairy cattle. Sixty lactating cows, approximately 32 d in milk grazing ryegrass pasture supplemented with 5 kg d-1 cracked triticale grain, were allocated to three treatments: Control, Tannin 1 (163 g CT d-1) or Tannin 2 (326 g CT d-1 initially, reduced to 244 g d-1 CT by day 17). Cows were dosed twice daily after milking for 5 wk with the powdered CT extract (mixed 1:1 with water). Low and high CT supplementation reduced (PB0.05) methane emissions by 14 and 29%, respectively (a..
View full abstractGrants
Funding Acknowledgements
We thank D. Mapleson, R. Case, and A. Hookey for caring for the animals and M. Hannah for statistical analysis (Department of Primary Industries, Victoria, Australia). The Department of Primary Industries-Victoria, the Victorian Greenhouse Strategy, the Australian Greenhouse Gas Office and Dairy Australia funded this study.