Emission of Greenhouse Gases and Ammonia from the Excreta of Nellore Bulls Submitted to Energy and Tannin Supplementation

Animal supplementation during the background phase may increase greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). The inclusion of tannins in the diet of Nellore bulls can mitigate nitrous oxide (N<sub>2</sub>O), methane (CH<sub>4</sub>), and ammonia (NH<sub>3</sub>) production. Th...

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Main Authors: Izabela Larosa Rigobello, Abmael da Silva Cardoso, Natalia Vilas Boas Fonseca, Fernando Ongaratto, Matheus Mello Silva, Angelica Santos Rabelo de Souza Bahia, Isadora Alves Dornellas, Ricardo Andrade Reis
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023-07-01
Series:Atmosphere
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/14/7/1112
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Summary:Animal supplementation during the background phase may increase greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). The inclusion of tannins in the diet of Nellore bulls can mitigate nitrous oxide (N<sub>2</sub>O), methane (CH<sub>4</sub>), and ammonia (NH<sub>3</sub>) production. The objective of this study was to quantify the effect of energy supplementation associated with sources of tannins in the diet of young Nellore bulls backgrounded in pastures with N<sub>2</sub>O, CH<sub>4</sub>, and NH<sub>3</sub> emissions. Two experiments were conducted in a completely randomized design. The treatments were three supplementation strategies: (1) soybean hulls 0.3% of body weight (BW), (2) sorghum grain 0.3% of the BW, and (3) peanut peel 0.3% of BW, the last two being sources of tannin. The static closed chambers method was used to quantify N<sub>2</sub>O and CH<sub>4</sub> emissions and the semi-open chamber technique to estimate NH<sub>3</sub> volatilization. Supplementation strategies did not affect the N<sub>2</sub>O emissions (<i>p</i> = 0.9116). The soil water-filled pore space explained the variation in the N<sub>2</sub>O fluxes (<i>p</i> = 0.0071). The treatments did not change the total CH<sub>4</sub> emissions (<i>p</i> = 0.3599), and no explanatory variable was correlated with the CH<sub>4</sub> fluxes. The NH<sub>3</sub> volatilization did not vary according to the supplements or tannin inclusion (<i>p</i> = 0.5170). However, the type of excreta affected the NH<sub>3</sub> volatilization (<i>p</i> < 0.0001). Ammonia volatilization averaged 14.05, 4.16, and 2.25% of the applied N for urine, urine + dung, and dung, respectively. The energetic supplementation of Nellore bulls containing sources of tannins in the evaluated dosages was not a mitigation strategy for the emissions of N<sub>2</sub>O, CH<sub>4</sub>, and NH<sub>3</sub>.
ISSN:2073-4433