Meta-analysis quantifying the potential of dietary additives and rumen modifiers for methane mitigation in ruminant production systems

Abstract Increasingly countries are seeking to reduce emission of greenhouse gases from the agricultural industries, and livestock production in particular, as part of their climate change management. While many reviews update progress in mitigation research, a quantitative assessment of the efficacy and performance-consequences of nutritional strategies to mitigate enteric methane (CH4) emissions from ruminants has been lacking. A meta-analysis was conducted based on 108 refereed papers from recent animal studies (2000 – 2020) to report effects on CH4 production, CH4 yield and CH4 emission intensity from 8 dietary interventions. The interventions (oils, microalgae, nitrate, ionophores, protozoal control, phytochemicals, essential oils and 3-nitrooxypropanol). Of these, macroalgae and 3-Nitroxypropanol showed greatest efficacy in reducing CH4 yield (g CH4/kg of dry matter intake) at the doses trialled. The confidence intervals derived for the mitigation efficacies could be applied to estimate the potential to reduce national livestock emissions through the implementation of these dietary interventions.