Methane production of growing and finishing pigs in southern China

Abstract Methane from enteric fermentation and manure decomposition from livestock contributes to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Research on CH 4 production from enteric fermentation has mainly focused on ruminant livestock. However, CH 4 production from enteric fermentation in pigs may be important due to the large global pig population. This experiment measured enteric CH 4 from growing and finishing pigs in China. Five 58.9 ± 1.15 kg and five 89.4 ± 0.85 kg Duroc × Landrace × Large Yorkshire female pigs were randomly selected from a commercial farm in Shenzhen, Guangdong province (China). The pigs were transferred to individual 2.0 m × 1.0 m × 1.2 m respiration chambers located on the same farm and continued to be fed the commercial diets of their respective weight group on the farm. After 3 d of adaptation to the respiration chambers, daily CH 4 emissions were measured from the 10 pigs for 3 d. The CH 4 production of the 60 and 90 kg pigs was 1.13 and 2.01 g pig/d, respectively, with that of 90 kg pigs higher than the 60 kg group (P i.e. , 0.70 g/kg DM versus 0.82 g/kg DM) and per kg body weight (19.01 g/kg versus 22.47 g/kg) for the 60 and 90 kg groups, there were no differences. Using these values, estimated annual CH 4 production from the 60 and 90 kg pigs was 0.41 kg and 0.73 kg, respectively, values which are lower than the 1 kg pig/year adopted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The high variation in CH 4 emission among our pigs, and those in the literature, suggest that differences in CH 4 emission exist among pigs within the same herd housed under similar nutritional and husbandry management. This article is part of the special issue entitled: Greenhouse Gases in Animal Agriculture – Finding a Balance between Food and Emissions, Guest Edited by T.A. McAllister, Section Guest Editors; K.A. Beauchemin, X. Hao, S. McGinn and Editor for Animal Feed Science and Technology, P.H. Robinson .