ArticleJournal of animal science2024
Methane output across life stages in sheep, how it differs from lambs to adult ewes using portable accumulation chambers.
Article in Journal of animal science, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Assessing alternative metrics of methane output measured in a multi-breed, pasture-based sheep population.Journal of animal science · 2026Article
- Predicting dry matter intake in gestating ewes using greenhouse gas measurements from portable accumulation chambers.Journal of animal science · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Methane (CH4) produced from enteric fermentation is a potent greenhouse gas produced by ruminant animals. Multiple measurements are required across life stages to develop an understanding of how CH4 output changes throughout the animal's lifetime. The objectives of the current study were to estimate CH4 output across life stages in sheep and to investigate the relationship between CH4 output and dry matter (DM) intake (DMI). Data were generated on a total of 266 female Suffolk and Texel animals. Methane and carbon dioxide (CO2) output, estimated using portable accumulation chambers, and DMI, estimated using the n-alkane technique outdoors and using individual penning indoors, were quantified across the animal's life stage; as lambs (<12 mo), nulliparous hoggets (12 to 24 mo) and ewes (primiparous or greater; > 24 mo). Ewes were further classified as pregnant, lactating, and dry (non-pregnant and non-lactating). Multiple measurements were taken within and across the life stages of the same animals. A linear mixed model was used to determine if CH4 and CO2 output differed across life stages and using a separate linear mixed model the factors associated with CH4 output within each life stage were also investigated. Methane, CO2 output, and DMI differed by life stage (P < 0.05), with lactating ewes producing the greatest amount of CH4 (25.99 g CH4/d) and CO2 (1711.6 g CO2/d), while also having the highest DMI (2.18 kg DM/d). Methane output differed by live-weight of the animals across all life stages (P < 0.001). As ewe body condition score increased CH4 output declined (P < 0.05). Correlations between CH4 output measured across life stages ranged from 0.26 (SE 0.08; lambs and lactating ewes) to 0.59 (SE 0.06; hoggets and pregnant ewes), while correlations between CO2 output measured across life stages ranged from 0.12 (SE 0.06; lambs and hoggets) to 0.65 (SE 0.06; hoggets and lactating ewes). DMI was moderately correlated with CH4 (0.44; SE 0.04) and CO2 output (0.59; SE 0.03). Results from this study provide estimates of CH4 output across life stages in a pasture-based sheep production system and offer valuable information for the national inventory and the marginal abatement cost curve on the optimum time to target mitigation strategies.
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