Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/23073
Title: Effect of measurement duration in respiration chambers on methane traits of beef cattle
Contributor(s): Arthur, P F (author); Donoghue, K A (author); Bird-Gardiner, T (author); Herd, Robert M  (author)orcid ; Hegarty, Roger  (author)
Publication Date: 2018
DOI: 10.1071/an15425
Handle Link: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/23073
Abstract: Records on 1043 young Angus heifer and bull progeny from 73 sires, measured for methane production in respiration chambers, were used to evaluate the accuracy of a 1-day measurement relative to 2-day measurement duration. The traits assessed were dry matter intake (DMI, kg/day), methane-production rate (MPR, g/day), methane yield (MY, MPR per unit DMI) and four residual methane (RMP, g/day) traits. The RMP traits were computed as actual MPR minus expected MPR, where the expected MPR were calculated from three widely used equations. The expected MPR for the fourth RMP trait was computed by regressing MPR on DMI, using the data from the study. Variance components, heritability, phenotypic and genetic correlations, and the efficiency of selection using 1-day compared with 2-day measurement were used as assessment criteria. The environmental variance for the 2-day measurement was slightly lower than that of the 1-day measurement for all the traits studied, indicating that the addition of an extra day of data was effective in reducing the amount of unexplained variation in each trait. However, these minor reductions did not have a major impact on accuracy; hence, very high phenotypic (rp of 0.91-0.99) and genetic (rg of 0.99 for each trait) correlations were obtained between the two measurement durations. The very high genetic correlation between the two durations of measurement indicated that, at the genetic level, the 1-day duration is measuring the same trait as the 2-day measurement duration. Any enteric-methane emission-abatement strategy that seeks to reduce MPR per se, may have a detrimental impact on ruminant productivity through a correlated reduction in feed intake; hence, MY and the RMP traits are likely to be the traits of interest for genetic improvement. Efficiency of selection for MY and the RMP traits ranged from 0.96 to 0.99, which implies that there would be less than 5% loss in efficiency by adopting a 1-day relative to a 2-day methane-measurement duration. While the throughput of the respiration-chamber facility can be increased by adopting a 1-day measurement duration, additional resources, such as holding pens, would be required to take advantage of the extra day.
Publication Type: Journal Article
Source of Publication: Animal Production Science, 58(6), p. 1006-1010
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Place of Publication: Australia
ISSN: 1836-5787
1836-0939
Fields of Research (FoR) 2008: 070201 Animal Breeding
070204 Animal Nutrition
Fields of Research (FoR) 2020: 300305 Animal reproduction and breeding
300303 Animal nutrition
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2008: 970107 Expanding Knowledge in the Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences
830301 Beef Cattle
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2020: 280101 Expanding knowledge in the agricultural, food and veterinary sciences
100401 Beef cattle
Peer Reviewed: Yes
HERDC Category Description: C1 Refereed Article in a Scholarly Journal
Appears in Collections:Journal Article
School of Environmental and Rural Science

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