Abstract

CARDONA-IGLESIAS, Juan Leonardo; MAHECHA-LEDESMA, Liliana  and  ANGULO-ARIZALA, Joaquín. Fodder shrubs and fatty acids: strategies to reduce enteric methane production in cattle. Agron. Mesoam [online]. 2017, vol.28, n.1, pp.273-288. ISSN 2215-3608.  http://dx.doi.org/10.15517/am.v28i1.21466.

Fodder shrubs and fatty acids: strategies to reduce enteric methane production in cattle. The aim of this study was to analyze the use of fodder shrubs and polyunsaturated fatty acids as a nutritional strategy to mitigate enteric methane production in cattle. Special emphasis was made on the use of Tithonia diversifolia (Hemsl.) A. Gray (Mexican sunflower), as a species with antimethanogenic potential. Bibliographic information for this review was obtained between July and September 2015 by using key words. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas (GHG), the increase of its atmospheric concentration is caused mainly by emissions from agriculture and industry, but it is also estimated that a proportion of methane is emitted by ruminants as a product of enteric and anaerobic fermentation of diet. This causes an environmental and productive problem in livestock production systems worldwide. Although there is controversy about the real contribution of methane by ruminants and its impact on environmental issues, the amount of emissions should try to be reduced.This document emphasizes the search for nutritional strategies such as supplementation with forage shrubs and sources of polyunsaturated fatty acids, which have shown potential to maintain animal production efficiency and decrease enteric methane synthesis.

Keywords : methanogenesis; silvopastoral system; lipid supplementation; Tithonia diversifolia.

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