Assessment of the influence of biochar on In vitro rumen for mitigation of methane emission

Abstract

The methane emissions from enteric fermentation in herbivorous animals, especially ruminants, are considered a major source of greenhouse gases. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of biochar on methane production in an in vitro ramen incubation in which rice straw and cassava leaf meal were used as substrate. Urea was used as sources of NPN and protein. Gas production and methane in the gas were measured over successive 6h intervals for 24h, after which the residual dry matter (DM) in the substrate was determined by filtration. During the fermentation intervals (1824 h) there were significantly differences in gas production between two substrates, rice straw (276.67 ml) and cassava leaf meal (515 ml) (p<0.05). The levels of biochar (0%, 1% and 2%) were no affect in gas production of the substrates, in contrast biochar can be reduced methane as well as 21.292, 20.417 and 19.667 % respectively (p<0.05) but between 1% and 2% of biochar were not showed any difference in decreasing the methane production. The cassava leaf meal (78.479 %) was digested significantly higher than rice straw (70.139%). Biochar did not affect the proportion of DM mineralized and digestibility after 24h, but reduced the production of methane per unit DM mineralized.