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RESEARCH ARTICLE

The acute effect of addition of nitrate on in vitro and in vivo methane emission in dairy cows

P. Lund A C , R. Dahl A , H. J. Yang B C , A. L. F. Hellwing A , B. B. Cao B and M. R. Weisbjerg A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Department of Animal Science, Aarhus University, AU Foulum, Blichers Allé 20, PO Box 50, 8830 Tjele, Denmark.

B State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, P.R. China.

C Corresponding authors. Email: Peter.Lund@agrsci.dk; and yang_hongjian@sina.com

Animal Production Science 54(9) 1432-1435 https://doi.org/10.1071/AN14339
Submitted: 13 March 2014  Accepted: 6 June 2014   Published: 17 July 2014

Abstract

The effects of a 24-h administration of a ration high in nitrate (20 g/kg DM) on DM intake and enteric gas production in lactating dairy cows as well as the effect of different doses of nitrate on in vitro fermentation were studied. Nitrate reduced in vivo methane (CH4) production by 31%, and CH4 production increased again when nitrate supplementation was stopped. A similar effect was found when relating CH4 to carbon dioxide, and to DM intake. Addition of nitrate was followed by increased hydrogen production, which decreased again when nitrate was stopped. Nitrate addition did not affect in vitro rumen fermentation in terms of DM degradability, pH, ammonia nitrogen, microbial protein and volatile fatty acid production, but it decreased gas production with longer initial delay time before onset of gas production and lower gas production rate. Nitrate added at 7–20 g/kg ration DM significantly decreased net initial (0–12 h) CH4 production by 10–16%, although no further depression was observed afterwards.

Additional keywords: CH4, gas production, mitigation, ruminant, VFA.


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