Özkan, Ṣ., Bonesmo, H., Østerås, O., & Harstad, O. M. (2014). Effect of Increased Somatic Cell Count and Replacement Rate on Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Norwegian Dairy Herds. FACCE MACSUR Mid-term Scientific Conference, 3(S) Sassari, Italy.
Abstract: Dairy sector contributes around 4% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, of which 2/3 and 1/3 are attributed to milk and meat production, respectively. The main GHGs released from dairy farms are methane, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide. The increased trend in emissions has stimulated research evaluating alternative mitigation options. Much of the work to date has focused on animal breeding, dietary factors and rumen manipulation. There have been little studies assessing the impact of secondary factors such as animal health on emissions at farm level. Production losses associated with udder health are significant. Somatic cell count (SCC) is an indicator on udder health. In Norway, around 45, 60 and 70% of cows in a dairy herd at first, second and third lactation are expected to have SCC of 50,000 cells/ml and above. Another indirect factor is replacement rate. Increasing the replacement rate due to health disorders, infertility and reduced milk yield is likely to increase the total farm emissions if the milking heifer replacements are kept in the herd. In this study, the impact of elevated SCC (200,000 cells/ml and above) and replacement rate on farm GHG emissions was evaluated. HolosNor, a farm scale model adapting IPCC methodology was used to estimate net farm GHG emissions. Preliminary results indicate an increasing trend in emissions (per kg milk and meat) as the SCC increases. Results suggest that animal health should be considered as an indirect mitigation strategy; however, further studies are required to enable comparisons of different farming systems.
|
Özkan, á¹¢., Bonesmo, H., Østerås, O., & Harstad, O. M. (2014). Effect of Increased Somatic Cell Count and Replacement Rate on Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Norwegian Dairy Herds (Vol. 3).
Abstract: Dairy sector contributes around 4% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, of which 2/3 and 1/3 are attributed to milk and meat production, respectively. The main GHGs released from dairy farms are methane, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide. The increased trend in emissions has stimulated research evaluating alternative mitigation options. Much of the work to date has focused on animal breeding, dietary factors and rumen manipulation. There have been little studies assessing the impact of secondary factors such as animal health on emissions at farm level. Production losses associated with udder health are significant. Somatic cell count (SCC) is an indicator on udder health. In Norway, around 45, 60 and 70% of cows in a dairy herd at first, second and third lactation are expected to have SCC of 50,000 cells/ml and above. Another indirect factor is replacement rate. Increasing the replacement rate due to health disorders, infertility and reduced milk yield is likely to increase the total farm emissions if the milking heifer replacements are kept in the herd.In this study, the impact of elevated SCC (200,000 cells/ml and above) and replacement rate on farm GHG emissions was evaluated. HolosNor, a farm scale model adapting IPCC methodology was used to estimate net farm GHG emissions. Preliminary results indicate an increasing trend in emissions (per kg milk and meat) as the SCC increases. Results suggest that animal health should be considered as an indirect mitigation strategy; however, further studies are required to enable comparisons of different farming systems. No Label
|
|
Özkan, Ş., Ahmadi, B. V., Bonesmo, H., Østerås, O., Stott, A., & Harstad, O. M. (2015). Impact of animal health on greenhouse gas emissions. Advances in Animal Biosciences, 6(01), 24–25.
|
|
Virkajärvi, P., Jing, Q., Bélanger, G., Baron, V., Bonesmo, H., & Young, D. (2013). Modeling grassland with CATIMO – focus on the second cut. (Vol. 9(1), pp. 9–13).
|
Jing, Q., Bélanger, G., Baron, V., Bonesmo, H., & Virkajärvi, P. (2013). Simulating the Nutritive Value of Timothy Summer Regrowth. Agronomy Journal, 105(3), 563.
Abstract: The process-based grass model, CATIMO, simulates the spring growth and nutritive value of timothy (Phleum pratense L.), a forage species widely grown in Scandinavia and Canada, but the nutritive value of the summer regrowth has never been simulated. Our objective was to improve CATIMO for simulating the N concentration, neutral detergent fiber (NDF), in vitro digestibility of NDF (dNDF), and in vitro true digestibility of dry matter (IVTD) of summer regrowth. Daily changes in summer regrowth nutritive value were simulated by modifying key crop parameters that differed from spring growth. More specifically, the partitioning fraction to leaf blades was increased to increase the leaf-to-weight ratio, and daily changes in NDF and dNDF of leaf blades and stems were reduced. The modified CATIMO model was evaluated with data from four independent experiments in eastern and western Canada and Finland. The model performed better for eastern Canada than for the other locations, but the nutritive value attributes of the summer regrowth across locations (range of normalized RMSE = 8-25%, slope < 0.17, R-2 < 0.10) were not simulated as well as those of the spring growth (range of normalized RMSE = 4-16%, 0.85 < slope < 1.07, R-2 > 0.61). These modeling results highlight knowledge gaps in timothy summer regrowth and prospective research directions: improved knowledge of factors controlling the nutritive value of the timothy summer regrowth and experimental measurements of leaf-to-weight ratio and of the nutritive value of leaves and stems.
|
