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Milk Fatty Acids: The Impact of Grazing Diverse Pasture and the Potential to Predict Rumen-Derived Methane

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  • Cecilia Loza

    (Institute of Plant Production and Plant Breeding, Grass and Forage Science/Organic Agriculture, Christian-Albrechts Universität zu Kiel, 24118 Kiel, Germany
    Present addresses: South Regional Center (CRS), Animal and Forage Science Department, Faculty of Agronomy, Universidad de la República, Canelones 9000, Uruguay.)

  • Hannah Davis

    (School of Natural and Environmental Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK)

  • Carsten Malisch

    (Institute of Plant Production and Plant Breeding, Grass and Forage Science/Organic Agriculture, Christian-Albrechts Universität zu Kiel, 24118 Kiel, Germany
    Present addresses: Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University, Blichers Allé 20, 8830 Tjele, Denmark.)

  • Freidhelm Taube

    (Institute of Plant Production and Plant Breeding, Grass and Forage Science/Organic Agriculture, Christian-Albrechts Universität zu Kiel, 24118 Kiel, Germany
    Grass Based Dairy Systems, Animal Production Systems Group, Wageningen University (WUR), 6700 AH Wageningen, The Netherlands)

  • Ralf Loges

    (Institute of Plant Production and Plant Breeding, Grass and Forage Science/Organic Agriculture, Christian-Albrechts Universität zu Kiel, 24118 Kiel, Germany)

  • Amelia Magistrali

    (School of Natural and Environmental Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK)

  • Gillian Butler

    (School of Natural and Environmental Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK)

Abstract

The sustainability of dairying has been questioned, yet cattle exploit non-food resources (especially forages) and provide key nutrients for consumers’ health. This study, using different forage types, considered milk’s nutritional quality, focusing on fatty acid profiles alongside methane emissions—investigating whether methane can be predicted from milk fatty acids (FAs). Compared with grass/clover/maize silage, cows grazing grass/clover pasture produced milk 70% higher in beneficial omega-3 FAs, which increased by an additional 15% when grazing more diverse pasture. Milk from grazing also had less omega-6 FAs (compared with silage diets), and their ratio with omega-3 FAs fell from 2.5:1 on silage to 1.2:1 when grazing grass/clover and 1.1:1 on diverse pasture. Measured methane emissions (at 8.7 g/kg energy-corrected milk) were lower than published values, and existing models for estimating methane from lactating cows were poor predictors for this dataset. The multiple regression of methane against milk FAs in this study provided predictions with an R 2 of 0.56 for daily emissions and 0.65 relative to milk output. Grazing quality and a diverse pasture with productive cows were potentially beneficial to milk nutritional quality, and our results reinforce the theory that milk fat composition could be an accessible tool for methane prediction; however, they also suggest that more work is needed for alternative production systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Cecilia Loza & Hannah Davis & Carsten Malisch & Freidhelm Taube & Ralf Loges & Amelia Magistrali & Gillian Butler, 2023. "Milk Fatty Acids: The Impact of Grazing Diverse Pasture and the Potential to Predict Rumen-Derived Methane," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-15, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:13:y:2023:i:1:p:181-:d:1032201
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. J de Souza & H Leskinen & A L Lock & K J Shingfield & P Huhtanen, 2020. "Between-cow variation in milk fatty acids associated with methane production," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(8), pages 1-22, August.
    2. Cecilia Loza & Thorsten Reinsch & Ralf Loges & Friedhelm Taube & José Ignacio Gere & Christof Kluß & Mario Hasler & Carsten S. Malisch, 2021. "Methane Emission and Milk Production from Jersey Cows Grazing Perennial Ryegrass–White Clover and Multispecies Forage Mixtures," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-15, February.
    3. Hannah Davis & Eleni Chatzidimitriou & Carlo Leifert & Gillian Butler, 2020. "Evidence That Forage-Fed Cows Can Enhance Milk Quality," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-15, May.
    4. Ertl, Paul & Klocker, Hannes & Hörtenhuber, Stefan & Knaus, Wilhelm & Zollitsch, Werner, 2015. "The net contribution of dairy production to human food supply: The case of Austrian dairy farms," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 119-125.
    5. Katarina Arvidsson Segerkvist & Helena Hansson & Ulf Sonesson & Stefan Gunnarsson, 2020. "Research on Environmental, Economic, and Social Sustainability in Dairy Farming: A Systematic Mapping of Current Literature," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-14, July.
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