| Summary: | Greenhouse gas emissions from livestock farming and in particular enteric methane (CH<sub>4</sub>) from ruminants are criticized for being one of the main contributors to climate change. Different breeding, feeding and management strategies are tested to decrease these emissions, but a status quo analysis is also relevant to implement such measures. The present study aimed to analyze the concentration of CH<sub>4</sub> in air exhaled by dairy cows along a rural-urban gradient of Bangalore, India. Urban, mixed and rural areas were defined based on a survey stratification index (SSI) comprising build-up density and distance to the city center. Using a laser methane detector (LMD), CH<sub>4</sub> concentration was determined in 2-min spot measurements of exhaled air of 448 cows at three equally spaced visits between June 2017 and April 2018. Mean, maximum and CH<sub>4</sub> concentration per duration of the overall measurement, eructation and respiration bouts were calculated. For the overall mean and respiration bouts, CH<sub>4</sub> concentration was higher in cows from urban areas, which had also higher milk yield than cows from mixed and rural areas. Although no differences were found in terms of the intake level of fibrous diet components, the type of measurement location (indoor, half-outdoor or outdoor) and pasture access had an impact on CH<sub>4</sub> concentration. To our knowledge, this is the first study using the LMD on-farm and in an urbanizing environment. The LMD measurements show variations in enteric CH<sub>4</sub> emissions along the rural-urban gradient of Bangalore that reflect differences in dairy husbandry systems governed by the social-ecological context.
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