Effects of solar radiation and air temperature on methane emission as associated with metabolic heat production and latent heat loss in ruminants

• Grant number: 11/17388-6
• Support type: Regular Research Grants
• Duration: January 01, 2012 - December 31, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Animal Husbandry - Ecology of Domestic Animals and Ethology
• Principal researcher: Alex Sandro Campos Maia
• Grantee: Alex Sandro Campos Maia
• Home Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias (FCAV). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Jaboticabal. Jaboticabal , SP, Brazil
• Assoc. researchers: Cíntia Carol de Melo Costa ; Marcos Chiquitelli Neto ; Newton La Scala Júnior ; Roberto Gomes da Silva ; Rosiane Batista da Silva ; Telma Teresinha Berchielli

Abstract

Analyses of air trapped in polar ice show that over at least the past 450,000 years before industrial era the atmospheric CH4 and CO2 have not exceeded 700 ppb and 300 ppm, respectively. However, the concentration of these gases is increasing in the last 200 years. CO2 levels reached 400 ppm, while that of CH4 changed from 800 to 1800 ppm. This contributed to a rise of about 0.5 C in the atmospheric temperature that has impacted negatively the agriculture as food production, a threatening situation as for the human survival. The enteric fermentation is the main source of methane emission around the world. In Brazil it represents about 63,2% (243 Tg) of all methane emissions, while animal dejects are responsible by emissions of 16,2 Tg. This evidences that animal production is responsible by methane emission of 260 Tg, contributing directly with 12% of total Brazilian emission of greenhouse gases as converted by metric Global Warming Potential (GWP). Worried with this situation, the Brazil recently implanted its National Policy on Climatic Change - PNMC by Law nr.12.187/09. By this Law Brazil can adopt voluntary actions in order to reduce greenhouse gases emissions by 36,1% and 38,9% until 2020; the objective is that Agriculture and Livestock activities will decrease about 4,9% and 6,1% of its emissions in this period. Studies with ruminants showed that emission of methane depends on a number of factors, like food amount and quality, time of day and meteorological conditions, etc. The development of strategies that decrease the methane emission by ruminants is urgently needed and a step in this direction is to study the amount of methane emission by ruminants under different conditions of air temperature, humidity and solar radiation. The Brazil is a continental country that has several different climatic conditions, like cold in the south and heat in the north. In the other hand, the evaluation of the methane emission together with the metabolic heat associated to the thermal equilibrium of the animals would be an important tool in this context of global warming. Such investigations would to the technological development of Agriculture and Livestock production, involving environmental responsibility and attending needs associated with the estimated human population growth in the years to come. (AU)

Scientific publications

(7)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

NASCIMENTO, SHEILA TAVARES; CAMPOS MAIA, ALEX SANDRO; CARVALHO FONSECA, VINICIUS DE FRANCA; NAGIB NASCIMENTO, CAROLINA CARDOSO; DE CARVALHO, MARCOS DAVI; PINHEIRO, MARIA DA GRACA. Physiological responses and thermal equilibrium of Jersey dairy cows in tropical environment. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BIOMETEOROLOGY, v. 63, n. 11, SI, p. 1487-1496, NOV 2019. (14/09639-7, 11/17388-6)

DE MELO COSTA, CINTIA CAROL; CAMPOS MAIA, ALEX SANDRO; NASCIMENTO, SHEILA TAVARES; NAGIB NASCIMENTO, CAROLINA CARDOSO; NETO, MARCOS CHIQUITELLI; CARVALHO FONSECA, VINICIUS DE FRANCA. Thermal balance of Nellore cattle. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BIOMETEOROLOGY, v. 62, n. 5, SI, p. 723-731, MAY 2018. (11/16695-2, 11/17388-6)

FONSECA, VINICIUS CARVALHO; SARAIVA, EDILSON PAES; CAMPOS MAIA, ALEX SANDRO; NAGIB NASCIMENTO, CAROLINA CARDOSO; DA SILVA, JOSINALDO ARAUJO; PEREIRA, WALTER ESFRAIM; PIMENTA FILHO, EDGARD CAVALCANTI; VIEIRA ALMEIDA, MARIA ELIVANIA. Models to predict both sensible and latent heat transfer in the respiratory tract of Morada Nova sheep under semiarid tropical environment. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BIOMETEOROLOGY, v. 61, n. 5, p. 777-784, MAY 2017. (11/17388-6)

MILAN, H. F. M.; MAIA, A. S. C.; GEBREMEDHIN, K. G.. Technical note: Device for measuring respiration rate of cattle under field conditions. JOURNAL OF ANIMAL SCIENCE, v. 94, n. 12, p. 5434-5438, DEC 2016. (14/09639-7, 11/17388-6)

NASCIMENTO, SHEILA T.; MAIA, ALEX S. C.; GEBREMEDHIN, KIFLE G.; NASCIMENTO, CAROLINA C. N.. Metabolic heat production and evaporation of poultry. POULTRY SCIENCE, v. 96, n. 8, p. 2691-2698, AUG 2017. (11/12816-0, 11/17388-6)

MOURA, GUSTAVO ANDRE BERNADO; COSTA, CINTIA CAROL DE MELO; FONSECA, VINICIUS DE FRANCA CARVALHO; WIJFFELS, GENE; CASTRO, PATRIC ANDRE; NETO, MARCOS CHIQUITELLI; MAIA, ALEX SANDRO CAMPOS. Are crossbred cattle (F1, Bos indicus x Bos taurus) thermally different to the purebred Bos indicus cattle under moderate conditions?. LIVESTOCK SCIENCE, v. 246, APR 2021. (14/11170-7, 11/17388-6, 16/12278-1, 18/19148-1)

CARVALHO FONSECA, VINICIUS DE FRANCA; CAMPOS MAIA, ALEX SANDRO; SARAIVA, EDILSON PAES; DE MELO COSTA, CINTIA CAROL; DA SILVA, ROBERTO GOMES; ABDOUN, KHALID AHMED; AL-HAIDARY, AHMED ABRAHIM; SAMARA, EMAD MOHAMMED; FULLER, ANDREA. Bio-thermal responses and heat balance of a hair coat sheep breed raised under an equatorial semi-arid environment. Journal of Thermal Biology, v. 84, p. 83-91, AUG 2019. (11/17388-6)