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Beef cattle methane emissions measured with tracer-ratio and inverse dispersion modelling techniques

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Bai, M., Velazco, J. I., Coates, T. W., Phillips, F. A., Flesch, T. K., Hill, J., Mayer, D. G., Tomkins, N. W., Hegarty, R. S. and Chen, D. (2021) Beef cattle methane emissions measured with tracer-ratio and inverse dispersion modelling techniques. Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 14 (5). pp. 3469-3479. ISSN 1867-8548

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Article Link: https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3469-2021

Publisher URL: https://amt.copernicus.org/articles/14/3469/2021/

Abstract

The development and validation of management practices to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from livestock require accurate emission measurements. This study assessed the accuracy of a practical inverse dispersion modelling (IDM) technique to quantify methane (CH4) emitted from a small cattle herd (16 animals) confined to a 63 m × 60 m experimental pen. The IDM technique calculates emissions from the increase in the CH4 concentration measured downwind of the animals. The measurements were conducted for 7 d. Two types of open-path (OP) gas sensors were used to measure concentration in the IDM calculation: a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (IDM-FTIR) or a CH4 laser (IDM-Laser). The actual cattle emission rate was measured with a tracer-ratio technique using nitrous oxide (N2O) as the tracer gas. We found very good agreement between the two IDM emission estimates (308.1 ± 2.1 – mean ± SE – and 304.4 ± 8.0 g CH4 head−1 d−1 for the IDM-FTIR and IDM-Laser respectively) and the tracer-ratio measurements (301.9 ± 1.5 g CH4 head−1 d−1). This study suggests that a practical IDM measurement approach can provide an accurate method of estimating cattle emissions.

Item Type:Article
Business groups:Animal Science
Additional Information:Open access
Keywords:AgTech AgriTech
Subjects:Agriculture > Agriculture (General) > Agriculture and the environment
Animal culture > Cattle
Animal culture > Rangelands. Range management. Grazing
Animal culture > Housing and environmental control
Animal culture > Feeds and feeding. Animal nutrition
Live Archive:09 Jun 2021 06:26
Last Modified:03 Sep 2021 16:46

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