Modeling the hydrogen economy of the rumen ecosystem to determine feeding management strategies for mitigating methane production from dairy cows

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The proposed project will comprise two core elements.  First, an initial database of data available in the published literature on methane emissions from dairy cows under North American feeding conditions will be constructed from both individual cow and group observations.  These data will be analysed statistically (using meta analysis and non-linear methods to allow pooling of data from different sites employing different measurement techniques) and a mechanistic simulation model of enteric fermentation (based on dynamic differential equations) will be developed.  Second, in collaboration with the four experimental teams (Nova Scotia, Lennoxville, Lethbridge and Guelph) working on the Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Program for Canadian Agriculture's "Strategic Feeding Programs for Canadian Dairy Cows to Minimize the Extent of Methane Output" sponsored by Dairy Farmers of Canada, new methane production data derived from the projects will be integrated into the database, the statistical analysis refined, and the simulation model developed further and evaluated as a predictive tool for methane emissions under Canadian conditions.  The goals of the project are (i) to model the hydrogen economy of rumen ecosystem in order to develop feeding management strategies for mitigating methane emissions from intensive dairy operations, and (ii) to provide more accurate estimates of emission factors for dairy cows for use in constructing national greenhouse gas inventories.