No interaction between nitrate and docosahexaenoic acid in mitigating enteric methane production

The additive methane mitigating effect between nitrate and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), a fat source, was investigated in lactating dairy cows at Wageningen University. Nitrate, but not DHA, decreased enteric methane production expressed per unit of feed or per unit of fat and protein corrected milk (FPCM), and effects were additive.

Information on the effects of combinations of two or more feed supplements on enteric methane fermentation is scarce. An additive, or positive, interaction effect of feed additives would be of interest because it would allow for a similar decrease in methane emissions using lower doses of the separate additives. We evaluated the interaction between feeding nitrate and DHA (C22:6n-3) on enteric methane production. Feeding DHA markedly increased polyunsaturated fatty acid content of milk fat, but did not decrease methane production per unit feed and increased methane production per unit FPCM, whereas nitrate showed a large and consistent decrease in methane production irrespective of the unit it was expressed in. No interaction effect was found for the effects of nitrate and DHA on methane per unit feed or per unit FPCM.

Please find a link to the article in Journal of Dairy Science: here
For more information, please contact Jan Dijkstra@wur.nl