Ammonia and methane emission factors from cattle operations expressed as losses of dietary nutrients or energy

The objective of this study was to conduct a systematic review of published literature on ammonia (NH₃) and enteric methane (CH₄) emissions from beef and dairy cattle operations to obtain statistically representative emission factors based on dietary intakes of nutrients or energy, and to identify major causes of emission variations. NH₃emissions from lagoon or other manure storage facilities were not included in this review. The NH₃and CH₄emission rates, expressed as a percentage losses of dietary nutrients or energy, demonstrated much less variation compared with emission rates expressed in g/animal/day. Air temperature and dietary crude protein (CP) content were identified as two major factors that can affect NH3 emission rates in addition to farm type. Feed digestibility and energy intake were identified as two major factors that can affect CH₄emission rates expressed as a percentage losses of dietary energy. Generally, increasing productivity and feed efficiency represented the greatest opportunity for mitigating NH₃or CH₄emissions per unit of livestock product. Expressing CH₄loss on a digestible energy basis rather than a gross energy intake basis can better represent the large variation among diets and the effects of varying dietary emission mitigation strategies.