Strategies in grass silage production to mitigate enteric CH4 emissions from ruminants

About 2/3 of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Norwegian agriculture come from ruminants, and most of the emissions are methane from the digestion of the ruminants. Forage constitutes a large proportion of the animals' feed ration. It is a national goal to increase the forage portion and the proportion of Norwegian-produced feed in the ration of the ruminants. It may have a major impact on GHG emissions from agriculture if characteristics of a low-emission forage is uncoverd. Grass silage, which is the predominant forage, is produced in various ways, resulting in a great variation of silage characteristics (eg botanical composition, digestibility and fermentation results). These characteristics can affect methane emissions from animals. At the same time, these must be characteristics that can be utilized to reduce methane emissions under both practical and economic conditions. The project included 4 work packages (WP) which will contribute in achieving the main goal: Develop strategies in grass silage production that reduce methane emissions from digestion of ruminants. TINE has already established a database of silage samples (from 86 round bales collected from all over the country) that have a large variety of feed quality. These round bales are analyzed for chemical composition and digestibility. In addition, the NDF degradation profile of these round bales is determined. In WP1, characteristics of these silages that affect methane emissions have been analyzed by using a laboratory method (in vitro-method). The results showed that concentration of sugar (WSC) increased in vitro methane production, while concentration of NDF and undigestible NDF decreased methane concentration in grass silages. Silages that reduce in vitro methane production are, however, expected to lower animal production, thus it appears to be a contradiction between selecting silages that reduce methane production and those that support high levels of animal production. In WP2 some silage characteristics were studied in controlled field trials, where silage was produced with great variation for the certain characteristics and analyzed for in vitro methane production. The results showed that in vitro methane production was lower in the 2-cut system compared to the 3-cut system, and lower in silage consisting of timothy only compared to silage consisting of perennial ryegrass only. Wilting had no effect on in vitro methane production, while the use of formic acid-based silage additive increased methane production compared to untreated silage. As in WP1, the methane-reducing silage characteristics will potentially reduce animal production, which must be confirmed with animal production data. In WP3 the results from the two previous WP’s were followed up, and some of the most interesting results from the in vitro studies were investigated in an experiment with dairy cows. The aim was to investigate the effects of harvesting frequency (3 vs. 2 cuts per season) of timothy and grassland species (timothy, perennial ryegrass, and red clover) on feed intake, milk production and enteric methane production. The results showed that increased harvesting frequency of timothy and the use of timothy instead of ryegrass increased milk yield and reduced methane intensity (methane production per kg milk produced). Inclusion of red clover in the diet increased methane intensity linearly with numerically highest methane intensity in the 100% red clover diet. Before introducing strategies in silage production into practice, it is important that potential side effects are evaluated. In WP4, results from the trials were included in farm models, to evaluated whether the strategies that reduce enteric methane emissions affect emissions of other greenhouse gases from ruminant production system. The main finding is that the effectiveness of the strategy to reduce GHG emissions from dairy farms by increasing the harvesting frequency will mainly depend on the effect of reduced methane intensity and increased nitrous oxide emissions from the soil due to more nitrogen fertilizer use. The profitability and cost-effectiveness of this strategy vary depending on farmland availability. Increasing the harvesting frequency can be more profitable if land is not a limiting factor, but the overall cost-effectiveness differs across various farm situations. The results of the project show that farmers can influence emissions in their production by adapting their grass and clover production strategies. We found that there are good reasons for Norwegian dairy and meat producers to choose an intensive harvesting system and to use timothy in the grassland field. The results of the project are helping to build knowledge about greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture, and if the farmer follows the recommendations, it can contribute to reduced greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture.

Results from the project contributes to knowledge development within the area of GHG research for both national and international research institutions. The results will also contribute to increasing the expertise of agricultural industry (e.g. climate advisors in TINE and NLR), and in turn passed on to the farmers, who should implement the results in their strategy for grass silage production. This project focused on mitigating enteric CH4 emissions by use of national feed resources, which can contribute to improve the use of these resources, self-sufficiency and also the consumers acceptance of Norwegian ruminant production. The project identified quality attributes of grass silages that correlate with variations in CH4 emissions. The research results provide estimates of which emission reductions that can be expected when implementing mitigation strategies in grass silage production in Norway. Moreover, cost-effective silage production strategies to reduce GHG emissions from ruminant farming systems were evaluated. The cooperation between Norwegian and international research institutions and the industry promoted interdisciplinary research collaboration as well as knowledge transfer from research to the agricultural industry.

Food production results in greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions. Today, GHG from the agricultural sector constitute 8.6 percent of the total emission from Norway. Enteric methane (CH4) is a significant contributor to GHG emissions as it accounts for almost half of the total GHG emissions from Norwegian agriculture. Grass silage is the dominating preserved forage in ruminant diets. The practice used for grass silage production is very diverse, resulting in wide variation in characteristics, and hence influence on enteric CH4 emissions. Thus, finding ways to produce grass silage that minimise enteric CH4 emissions is an important strategy to reduce GHG emissions from Norwegian agriculture. To be able to lower enteric CH4 emissions, new knowledge and competence on the effects of silage production are required. In the present project, research institutions will co-operate with the Agro-industries to: 1) Explore which silage characteristics that perform the largest effect on in vitro enteric CH4-emissions (these data complete the data bank (established by TINE) of grass silage samples that has a great variety of feed quality (botanical and chemical composition, digestibility and fermentation quality)). 2) Systematize the most promising silage characteristics regarding CH4 production in field experiments. 3) Determine the magnitude of enteric CH4 mitigation from dairy cows by the most promising silage characteristics. 4) Develop cost-effective silage production strategies to reduce GHG emissions from ruminant farming systems. These sub- goals will lead to the achievement of the primary objective: Develop strategies in silage production that mitigate enteric CH4 emissions from ruminants.