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Methane
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Mitigating Methane Emissions Through Innovative Animal Nutrition Strategies
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Mitigating Methane Emissions Through Innovative Animal Nutrition Strategies

A special issue of Methane (ISSN 2674-0389).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2026 | Viewed by 622

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Jonathan Raúl Garay-Martínez

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Campo Experimental Las Huastecas, Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agrícolas y Pecuarias, Altamira C.P. 89610, Tamaulipas, Mexico
Interests: forage systems; ruminant nutrition; methane mitigation; silvopastoral systems; tropical and semi-arid livestock production
Dr. José Felipe Orzuna-Orzuna

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Unidad Regional Universitaria de Zonas Áridas, Universidad Autónoma Chapingo, Bermejillo 35230, Durango, Mexico
Interests: animal nutrition; forage quality; ruminant production systems; feed evaluation; sustainable livestock; methane mitigation strategies
Dr. Jorge Alonso Maldonado-Jáquez

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Campo Experimental La Laguna, Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agrícolas y Pecuarias, Matamo-ros 27440, Coahuila, Mexico
Interests: supplementation of grazing livestock; conservation and rescue of zoogenetic resources; meat and milk quality; livestock socioeconomic; climate change mitigation in livestock farming

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Methane emissions from ruminants represent one of the most significant challenges for advancing climate-smart and sustainable livestock production. Enteric fermentation in cattle, sheep, and goats is the dominant biological source of methane in agriculture, and nutritional strategies play a fundamental role in modulating rumen fermentation, hydrogen dynamics, microbial ecology, and methane formation pathways. Recent advances in feed additives, improved forages, tropical legumes, rumen microbial modulation, and precision-feeding practices provide promising opportunities to reduce methane intensity while maintaining or improving animal performance. Given the growing global demand for resilient and low-emission ruminant production systems, developing innovative nutritional solutions is essential.

This Special Issue aims to gather high-quality research and review articles focused on nutritional strategies to mitigate enteric methane emissions exclusively in ruminants. The scope aligns directly with the journal’s focus on methane generation, mitigation, measurement, and modeling. We welcome studies involving cattle, sheep, goats, buffalo, and wild ruminant species, using in vivo, in vitro, in situ, or modeling approaches.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research topics may include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Feed additives and plant secondary compounds (e.g., tannins, saponins, oils, essential oils, and algae) for methane reduction in ruminants.
  • Effects of improved forages, grasses, shrubs, and tropical legumes on enteric methane emissions.
  • Rumen fermentation patterns, hydrogen sinks, microbial community modulation, and methanogenesis pathways.
  • Precision feeding and diet-formulation strategies to reduce methane intensity.
  • Methane-measurement methodologies in ruminants: In vivo respiration chambers, SF₆, GreenFeed, laser dispersion, and in vitro fermentation.
  • Silvopastoral, agrosilvopastoral, and forage-based production systems as mitigation tools.
  • Impacts of forage conservation (silage and hay) and feed quality on methane emissions.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Jonathan Raúl Garay-Martínez
Dr. José Felipe Orzuna-Orzuna
Dr. Jorge Alonso Maldonado-Jáquez
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Methane is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

 

Keywords

  • ruminants
  • enteric methane
  • methane mitigation
  • ruminant nutrition
  • feed additives
  • forage systems
  • rumen microbiome
  • tropical livestock
  • precision feeding

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

13 pages, 251 KB  
Article
In Vitro Ruminal Fermentation and Gas and Methane Production of Eragrostis curvula Supplemented with Searsia lancea Leaf or Silage Meal
by Morokolo J. Molele, Khanyisile R. Mbatha, Sanele T. Jiyana, Francuois L. Müller and Thamsanqa D. E. Mpanza
Methane 2026, 5(2), 12; https://doi.org/10.3390/methane5020012 - 8 Apr 2026
Viewed by 210
Abstract
Livestock represent a key asset in the livelihood of smallholder farmers and play a critical role in the social dynamics and nutritional security of resource-poor communities. However, within these resource-poor communities, livestock productivity remains low. This is often due to seasonal changes in [...] Read more.
Livestock represent a key asset in the livelihood of smallholder farmers and play a critical role in the social dynamics and nutritional security of resource-poor communities. However, within these resource-poor communities, livestock productivity remains low. This is often due to seasonal changes in the quantity and quality of available feed from the natural veld, which in turn also contributes to methane production. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of supplementing Eragrostis curvula hay with Searsia lancea leaf or silage meal on in vitro fermentation efficiency and gas and methane production. Therefore, an in vitro study using a semi-automated pressure transducer technique was conducted on grass hay alone (control) and grass hay supplemented with 15% or 30% of either S. lancea leaf or silage meal. The dietary treatments were arranged in a complete randomized design, with each treatment replicated four times. Total gas and methane production was recorded at 3, 6, 12, 24 and 48 h using a pressure transducer attached to a data logger. After incubation, samples were collected to determine volatile fatty acids. Supplementing grass hay with 15% S. lancea leaf meal increased gas production by 76%, 52%, 32% and 12% in the first 24 h of incubation. Similarly, increasing the supplementation level to 30% increased gas production by 75%, 63%, 45% and 14%. However, supplementing grass hay with silage meal at 15% significantly reduced gas production by 37% during the first 3 h of incubation, whereas supplementation at 30% had no effect. Supplementing grass hay with S. lancea meals effectively reduced methane production at 24 and 48 h. Grass hay supplemented with 15% or 30% silage meal reduced methane by 46% and 39% at 24 h, while at 48 h, methane was reduced by 39% and 49%, respectively. Supplementing grass hay with S. lancea meals, however, did not affect volatile fatty acids. In conclusion, S. lancea can be strategically used as a supplementary feed source to modulate the rumen ecosystem by attenuating enteric methane production. Further studies are required to determine the effect of S. lancea on rumen microbial composition and its metabolic function. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mitigating Methane Emissions Through Innovative Animal Nutrition Strategies)
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