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Supplementing the diet of dairy cows with fat or tannin reduces methane yield, and additively when fed in combination

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2020

S. R. O. Williams Open the ORCID record for S. R. O. Williams [Opens in a new window] ,
M. C. Hannah ,
R. J. Eckard ,
W. J. Wales  and
P. J. Moate
S. R. O. Williams*
Affiliation:
Agriculture Victoria Research, Ellinbank, Victoria3821, Australia
M. C. Hannah
Affiliation:
Agriculture Victoria Research, Ellinbank, Victoria3821, Australia
R. J. Eckard
Affiliation:
Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria3010, Australia
W. J. Wales
Affiliation:
Agriculture Victoria Research, Ellinbank, Victoria3821, Australia
P. J. Moate
Affiliation:
Agriculture Victoria Research, Ellinbank, Victoria3821, Australia
*
†E-mail: richard.williams@agriculture.vic.gov.au
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Abstract

Addition of fats to the diets of ruminants has long been known to result in a reduction in enteric methane emissions. Tannins have also been used to reduce methane emissions but with mixed success. However, the effect of feeding fat in combination with tannin is unknown. Eight ruminally cannulated Holstein-Friesian cows were fed four diets in a double Latin-square, full crossover sequence. The treatments were 800 ml/day of water (CON), 800 g/day of cottonseed oil, 400 g/day of tannin, and 800 g/day of cottonseed oil and 400 g/day of tannin in combination (fat- and tannin-supplemented diet). Methane emissions were measured using open-circuit respiration chambers. Intake of basal diets was not different between treatments. Cows fed cottonseed oil had greater milk yield (34.9 kg/day) than those fed CON (32.3 kg/day), but the reduced concentration of milk fat meant there was no difference in energy-corrected milk between treatments. Methane yield was reduced when either cottonseed oil (14%) or tannin (11%) was added directly to the rumen, and their effect was additive when given in combination (20% reduction). The mechanism of the anti-methanogenic effect remains unclear but both fat and tannin appear to cause a reduction in fermentation in general rather than cause a change in the type of fermentation.

Keywords

cattleruminantanti-methanogenrespiration chambercottonseed oil
Type
Research Article
Information
animal , Volume 14 , Issue S3: Greenhouse Gases and Animal Agriculture Conference (GGAA 2019), 4 - 8 August 2019, Iguassu Falls, Brazil , September 2020 , pp. s464 - s472
Copyright
© Agriculture Victoria Research, 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Animal Consortium

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