Estimación de las emisiones de metano por fermentación entérica del ganado bovino en la hacienda Guatiquila ubicada en la vereda Veracruz, Cumaral-Meta

Abstract

Greenhouse gas emissions have increased dramatically in recent decades due to human activities, thus contributing to climate change. For this reason strategies have been developed for mitigation and adaptation to this environmental problem, one of these activities is the inventories of greenhouse gases that provide information about the activities that cause the different gases and in what proportion. The objectives of the present work were firstly to calculate the estimation of the methane emission generated by cattle present in the Guatiquila Hacienda located in the municipality of Cumaral - Meta contrasted the Level 1 and Level 2 methodologies exposed by the Intergovernmental Panel of Experts on Climate Change (IPCC) where an enteric methane emission was obtained of 19880 kg CH4 / year and 20157.02kg CH4 / year respectively. This study showed a difference of 1.37%, mainly due to the similarity of the data obtained from the bovine cattle present in the hacienda with those released by the IPCC, such as the Digestibility of the feed and the conversion factor to methane, which are determining variables of the methane emissions by enteric fermentation of cattle, it was also possible to demonstrate the influence of the net energy required by animals for their maintenance and for activities such as growth, pregnancy and lactation with the emission of methane, especially since a greater energy requirement leads to an increase in the consumption of food to meet those needs, resulting in a greater emission of enteric methane. In order to create strategies to reduce methane emissions by enteric fermentation without affecting livestock production, a good measure is the adoption of silvopastoral systems such as forage banks through legumes which are characterized by high digestibility and good nutritional value for cattle, allowing reducing the fermentative activity of the bacteria that produce methane.