Journal Article

Developing country specific enteric methane emission factor of the South Korean dairy cattle production using the 2019 refined IPCC Tier 2 methodology

Lee, Yoo-Gyung, Kim, Kyoung Hoon, Kim, Tae Hoon, Ibidhi, Ridha, Lee, HyunJune

2020

Overview

Dairy cattle farming was identified as an important source of enteric methane (CH4) emissions. In order to contribute to the improvement of the national greenhouse gas emission inventory, this work aims to develop emission factors (EF) for CH4 emissions from enteric fermentation in dairy cattle in South Korea. Information on dairy cattle herd characteristics, diet and management practices specific to the Korean dairy cattle population were gathered. EF was estimated according to the 2019 refinement to the 2006 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) using the Tier 2 approach. Three animal subcategories were considered: milking cows (650 kg body weight, BW), heifers 1~2 years (473 kg BW) and growing animals < 1 year (167 kg BW). The estimated enteric CH4 EFs for milking cows, heifers 1~2 years, growing animal < 1 year, were 139, 83 and 33 kg/head/year, respectively. South Korea adopted the Tier 1 default enteric CH4 EFs for GHG inventory reporting from the North America region. Compared with the generic Tier 1 default EF of 138 kg CH4/head/ year proposed by the 2019 refinement to the 2006 IPCC guidelines for high milking cows, our suggested value is quite similar (139 kg CH4/ head/year). While enteric CH4 EFs values were 23% higher and 49% lower for heifers and growing animals < one year than Tier 1 default EFs values, respectively. In addition, enteric CH4 EF is highly correlated with the level of milk production, feed intake and digestibility and methane conversion factor (%Ym). The outcome of this study underscores the importance of obtaining country-specific EF to estimate national enteric CH4 emissions. Thus, this work is a step forward in the revision of dairy cattle enteric CH4 EF and can further support assessment of mitigation strategies in South Korean livestock farming systems.

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Subject: Animal populations / Animals / Body weight / Cattle / Cattle production / Climate change / Dairy cattle / Dairy farms / Developing countries / Digestibility / Emission inventories / Emissions / Farming / Farming systems / Fermentation / Greenhouse gas emissions / Greenhouse gases / Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change / LDCs / Livestock / Livestock farming / Methane / Milk / Milk production / Milking