The use of feedlot/cereal grains in improving feed efficiency and reducing by-products such as methane in ruminants

Publication date: 22/06/2020
Extent: 34 pages

Contributions by: Kristin Hales, US Meat Animal Research Center – USDA-ARS, USA; Jeferson Lourenco, Darren S. Seidel, Osman Yasir Koyun, Dylan Davis and Christina Welch, University of Georgia, USA; James E. Wells, US Meat Animal Research Center – USDA-ARS, USA; and Todd R. Callaway, University of Georgia, USA

Chapter synopsis: Cattle can convert sunlight into high quality foods via the process of microbial fermentation of plantstuffs in the rumen. Unfortunately, losses of carbon and energy associated with the fermentation of feedstuffs comes in the form of CO2 and CH4, which are greenhouse gases of increasing importance to global climate issues. The use of starch-containing cereal grains as a feedstuff improves the efficiency because these energy dense feedstuffs are more fermentable than forages and fermentation of starch generally results in a shift in volatile fatty acids (VFAs) and less greenhouse gases. Feeding ruminants cereal grains has profound impact on animal physiology as well as efficiency, and reducing the environmental footprint of ruminant animal production. In this chapter we discuss some of the avenues by which cereal grains impact the efficiency and improve the global impact of animal agriculture.

DOI: 10.19103/AS.2020.0067.23