Dietary supplementation of monensin for methane mitigation in non pregnant dry murrah buffaloes Gupta Shiva*, Mohini Madhu, Thakur S.S., Mondal Goutam Animal Nutrition Division, ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal-132001, Haryana, India *Corresponding author: E-mail: drshivagupta9999@gmail.com
Online published on 31 August, 2018. Abstract The present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of dietary monensin supplementation on nutrient digestibility and enteric methane (CH4) emission in non pregnant dry Murrah buffaloes. Fourteen Murrah buffaloes were randomly divided into two groups of seven animals each based on body weight (597.62 kg). Both groups were fed as per ICAR (2013) without and with monensin supplementation (350 mg/head/d) in control and treatment groups, respectively for sixty days. The daily nutrient intake (kg/d) and apparent digestibility (%) of nutrients were similar in both the groups. However, enteric CH4 emissions (g/d) was reduced by 10.09% in monensin supplemented group as compared to control and lowered (P<0.05) by 6.34% for g/kg DM intake (19.78 vs. 21.12) in monensin supplemented group as compared to control. Energy loss in the form of methane as % of gross energy, digestible energy and metabolizable energy was reduced (P<0.05) in monensin supplemented group by 6.36, 9.24 and 9.79%, respectively. In conclusion, dietary monensin supplementation to non pregnant dry Murrah buffaloes could reduce enteric methane emissions without affecting nutrient intake and digestibility which will reduce the contribution of buffaloes to the global methane inventory and its negative impact on environment. Top Keywords Buffalo, Digestibility, Enteric methane production, Monensin. Top |