Methagene WG2 Billund

The second Expert group meeting of the Methagene WG2 on comparison of methods for measuring methane was held in Billund (DK) on 13 and 14 March 2017. Nine experts from different countries, which are all members of the METHAGENE consortium, attended the meeting.

On the first day we looked at data. Many more studies had been completed since the first meeting in 2016 and a large proportion of the comparison grid has now been filled. Six main methods were compared: respiration chambers; sniffers based on Guardian, Gasmet and Greenfeed systems; SF6; and laser gun. Gareth presented results of his concordance analysis, which was based on means, standard deviations and correlations between methods. Chamber measurements were used as the reference method for each comparison.

Billund is home to the original Legoland, but unfortunately this was shut for winter refurbishment so in the evening we visited a dairy farm where methane was being measured in Jersey cows (see pictures).

The next day we discussed two additional approaches for comparison. The first approach will be to look at comparisons of instruments used simultaneously in a method; the second approach will compare common predictors of methane measured by all methods. Plans were drawn up for completion of data analysis and for writing reports and publications.