Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science, NARO

Dairy Cattle Nutrition and Breeding Group

Dairy cattle produce milk through the digestive process with host-physiological and microbiological metabolism. Carbon dioxide and methane, which is specific to ruminant livestock, are generated in this process. Methane generated by rumen microorganisms is gathering attention because it's the most abundant anthropogenic greenhouse gas causing global warming. Therefore, the methane mitigation is urgently necessary for the world. To reduce methane, we are developing new and accurate feeding systems by control of the rumen microbiota in tandem with improving the productivity of dairy cattle as follows.

  • Development of methane-reducing technologies by investigation of the metabolic dynamics in rumen fermentation and improvement of microbial functional activities in consideration of the energy balance associated with efficient milk production in individual cow.
  • Development of technologies for simple measurement of enteric methane emission in order to provide a new feeding management technology associated with both reduction of methane emission and improvement of productivity by means of domestic feed at the maximum.
  • Exploration of new indicators that contribute to genetic improvement of dairy cattle on the basis of energy balance and data collected by various sensors.

We can provide new and accurate feeding systems that contribute to maximization of productivity and minimization of methane emission of dairy cattle.

Open circuit respiration apparatus

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