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Advances in Measuring and Mitigating Methane Emissions from Ruminants

A Special Issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615) belonging to the section "Animal System and Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2026 | Viewed by 2050

Editor


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Guest Editor
School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK
Interests: the environment (ruminants, poultry, fish & water); animal nutrition; gut health; food quality

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Ruminant animals such as buffaloes, cattle, goats and sheep make great contributions in supplying high-quality foods to meet the nutritional needs of ever-increasing human population. These nutrient-rich foods are vital in providing proteins of high biological value to maintain the health and development of people during their lifetime. While these animals can convert highly fibrous materials into high-quality meat and milk, they are blamed for releasing greenhouse gases (GHG) such as methane into the environment. These GHGs are suggested to cause climate change; therefore, sustainable strategies are needed to measure and mitigate methane emissions from ruminants. Many methods involving different sensors and digital tools have been tried and tested to both monitor and mitigate methane emissions from ruminant animals. This Special Issue invites esteemed authors to contribute articles on their research findings, particularly regarding innovative feeding, husbandry and management strategies to measure and mitigate methane emission from ruminant animals.

Dr. Abdul Shakoor Chaudhry
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • ruminants
  • greenhouse gases
  • sensors
  • methane
  • supplements

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 233 KB  
Article
Enteric Methane Emission and Milk Component Profiles of Holstein and Jersey Cows: A Respiration Chamber Study
by Jeongkuk Park, Jun Sik Eom, Dong Hyeon Kim, Seong Min Park, Su Bin Han, Younglae Kim, Chang-Gwon Dang and Dong-Hyun Lim
Animals 2026, 16(18), 2898; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani16182898 - 15 Sep 2026
Viewed by 116
Abstract
Holstein and Jersey dairy cows differ in body size, feed intake, milk production, and milk composition, which may influence the interpretation of enteric methane (CH4) emissions. This study compared production traits, milk composition, and respiration chamber-measured CH4 emissions between 10 [...] Read more.
Holstein and Jersey dairy cows differ in body size, feed intake, milk production, and milk composition, which may influence the interpretation of enteric methane (CH4) emissions. This study compared production traits, milk composition, and respiration chamber-measured CH4 emissions between 10 Holstein and 10 Jersey cows. Repeated measurements were averaged within cow, and breed differences were evaluated using independent two-sample t-tests. Sensitivity analyses additionally adjusted for age and days in milk. Holstein cows had greater body weight, dry matter intake, milk yield, fat- and protein-corrected milk, and daily CH4 production than Jersey cows. Jersey cows had higher milk fat and protein concentrations, whereas daily milk fat yield did not differ significantly between breeds. No significant breed differences were detected in CH4 production per unit of dry matter intake, milk yield, or fat- and protein-corrected milk. In the unadjusted analysis, Jersey cows had lower CH4 production per unit of milk fat yield, but the breed difference was inconclusive after adjustment for age and days in milk. Methane production per unit of milk protein or lactose yield did not differ significantly between breeds. These findings indicate that breed comparisons of enteric CH4 depend on the basis used to express emissions, while the component-specific ratios should be interpreted as exploratory animal-level measures. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Measuring and Mitigating Methane Emissions from Ruminants)
17 pages, 909 KB  
Article
Evaluating Equations for Predicting Enteric Methane Emissions in Dairy Cattle
by Fern T. Baker, Luke O’Grady and Martin J. Green
Animals 2026, 16(8), 1270; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani16081270 - 21 Apr 2026
Viewed by 1204
Abstract
Several prediction equations have been created, based on various dietary composition variables, to predict dairy cattle enteric methane emissions (EMEs). Inconsistencies in measuring EMEs have created difficulties comparing dairy cattle emissions between farms and inhibits certain in efforts to reduce emissions and work [...] Read more.
Several prediction equations have been created, based on various dietary composition variables, to predict dairy cattle enteric methane emissions (EMEs). Inconsistencies in measuring EMEs have created difficulties comparing dairy cattle emissions between farms and inhibits certain in efforts to reduce emissions and work towards Net Zero. The aims of the current study were to gather existing EME prediction equations and evaluate the variability in their prediction results. An additional aim was to create a combined prediction equation, based on the dietary components with the highest predictive ability, representing the average prediction across existing equations, which accounted for the variation amongst existing equations. The 32 equations produced large variation in the prediction of EMEs for each of the 15 example diets, ranging from 12.49 to 34.27 g CH4/kg DM. To create a combined EME prediction equation, twelve combinations of dietary variables were evaluated using a mixed-effects model. An equation based on metabolised energy (ME) and neutral detergent fibre (NDF) was chosen (methane (CH4) = 0.33 × ME + 0.31 × NDF + 3.47), due to the significance of the predictor variables and low prediction error (RMSE = 1.47 g CH4/kg DM), with a random-effects residual variance of 2.32. The combined equation may act as a suitable compromise to compare emissions between studies accounting for unexplained variation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Measuring and Mitigating Methane Emissions from Ruminants)
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