Reducing GHG emissions through genetic improvement for feed efficiency: effects on economically important traits and enteric methane production

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dc.contributor.author
Basarab, J. A.
Beauchemin, K. A.
Baron, V. S.
Ominski, K. H.
Guan, L. L.
Miller, S. P.
Crowley, J. J.
dc.date.accepted
2013-04-15
dc.date.accessioned
2024-06-04T20:18:34Z
dc.date.available
2024-06-04T20:18:34Z
dc.date.issued
2013-06-06
dc.date.submitted
2013-01-14
dc.description.abstract - en
Genetic selection for residual feed intake (RFI) is an indirect approach for reducing enteric methane (CH4) emissions in beef and dairy cattle. RFI is moderately heritable (0.26 to 0.43), moderately repeatable across diets (0.33 to 0.67) and independent of body size and production, and when adjusted for off-test ultrasound backfat thickness (RFIfat) is also independent of body fatness in growing animals. It is highly dependent on accurate measurement of individual animal feed intake. Within-animal repeatability of feed intake is moderate (0.29 to 0.49) with distinctive diurnal patterns associated with cattle type, diet and genotype, necessitating the recording of feed intake for at least 35 days. In addition, direct measurement of enteric CH4 production will likely be more variable and expensive than measuring feed intake and if conducted should be expressed as CH4 production (g/animal per day) adjusted for body size, growth, body composition and dry matter intake (DMI) or as residual CH4 production. A further disadvantage of a direct CH4 phenotype is that the relationships of enteric CH4 production on other economically important traits are largely unknown. Selection for low RFIfat (efficient, −RFIfat) will result in cattle that consume less dry matter (DMI) and have an improved feed conversion ratio (FCR) compared with high RFIfat cattle (inefficient; +RFIfat). Few antagonistic effects have been reported for the relationships of RFIfat on carcass and meat quality, fertility, cow lifetime productivity and adaptability to stress or extensive grazing conditions. Low RFIfat cattle also produce 15% to 25% less enteric CH4 than +RFIfat cattle, since DMI is positively related to enteric methane (CH4) production. In addition, lower DMI and feeding duration and frequency, and a different rumen bacterial profile that improves rumen fermentation in −RFIfat cattle may favor a 1% to 2% improvement in dry matter and CP digestibility compared with +RFIfat cattle. Rate of genetic change using this approach is expected to improve feed efficiency and reduce enteric CH4 emissions from cattle by 0.75% to 1.0% per year at equal levels of body size, growth and body fatness compared with cattle not selected for RFIfat.
dc.identifier.citation
Basarab, J. A., Beauchemin, K. A., Baron, V. S., Ominski, K. H., Guan, L. L., Miller, S. P., & Crowley, J. J. (2013). Reducing GHG emissions through genetic improvement for feed efficiency: Effects on economically important traits and enteric methane production. Animal, 7(s2), 303–315. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1751731113000888
dc.identifier.doi
https://doi.org/10.1017/S1751731113000888
dc.identifier.issn
1751-732X
dc.identifier.uri
https://open-science.canada.ca/handle/123456789/2533
dc.language.iso
en
dc.publisher
Cambridge University Press
dc.rights - en
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
dc.rights - fr
Creative Commons Attribution - Pas d’Utilisation Commerciale - Partage dans les Mêmes Conditions 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
dc.rights.openaccesslevel - en
Gold
dc.rights.openaccesslevel - fr
Or
dc.rights.uri - en
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
dc.rights.uri - fr
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/deed.fr
dc.subject - en
Agriculture
dc.subject - fr
Agriculture
dc.subject.en - en
Agriculture
dc.subject.fr - fr
Agriculture
dc.title - en
Reducing GHG emissions through genetic improvement for feed efficiency: effects on economically important traits and enteric methane production
dc.type - en
Article
dc.type - fr
Article
local.article.journalissue
s2
local.article.journaltitle
animal
local.article.journalvolume
7
local.pagination
303-315
local.peerreview - en
Yes
local.peerreview - fr
Oui
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