Date of Award:
8-2018
Document Type:
Thesis
Degree Name:
Master of Science (MS)
Department:
Wildland Resources
Committee Chair(s)
Juan J. Villalba
Committee
Juan J. Villalba
Committee
Jennifer W. MacAdam
Committee
Eric T. Thacker
Abstract
Cattle are responsible for greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. In particular, the cow-calf phase of production accounts for approximately 80 percent of the total beef production system greenhouse gas emissions. Tannins are chemical compounds found in certain forages and they have the potential to help reduce these negative environmental impacts. Thus, given that the cow-calf phase often relies on feeding hay, feeding tannin-containing hays may represent a significant mitigation practice.
With my MS program, I sought to explore whether tannin-containing hays fed to mother cows and heifers influence methane and nitrogen emissions relative to feeding traditional legume and grass hays . I found that “non-traditional” hays such as cicer milkvetch and tannin-containing hays such as sainfoin, birdsfoot trefoil and small burnet can help mitigate greenhouse gas and nitrogen emissions produced from heifers and mature cows. Therefore, these hays could be used to feed cattle during the fall and winter to help create a more environmentally friendly cow-calf phase of beef production.
Checksum
de214984e2eabacd5a34826c96b136d5
Recommended Citation
Stewart, Elizabeth K., "Effect of Tannin-Containing Legume Hays on Enteric Methane Emissions and Nitrogen Partitioning in Beef Cattle" (2018). All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023. 7170.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/7170
Included in
Copyright for this work is retained by the student. If you have any questions regarding the inclusion of this work in the Digital Commons, please email us at .