A GLOBAL FIRST

Canada delivers evaluations aimed at reducing methane emissions in dairy cattle

By Katie Duncan

THE ROADMAP TO GETTING THE DAIRY INDUSTRY TO NET-ZERO GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS BY 2050 reached an important milestone with Lactanet’s April release of the national genetic evaluations for methane efficiency.

Canada is the first country globally to deliver evaluations aimed at reducing methane emissions in dairy cattle.

Through a collaborative initiative with Semex Alliance, dairy farmers can now select Holstein cattle for reduced methane levels without affecting production.

The story behind the genetic evaluations involves several research projects and international initiatives including the Resilient Dairy Genome Project (RDGP), a large-scale applied research project funded by Genome Canada that uses genomic approaches to improve dairy cattle resilience and sustainability.

Dr. Christine Baes, professor at the University of Guelph and Canada Research Chair in Livestock Genomics, who heads up the project, is focused on feed efficiency and methane reduction, while other project leaders are focused on topics ranging from enhanced fertility and disease resistance to optimizing other traits that maximize sustainability.

“These evaluations represent Canada’s ability to develop and implement a meaningful, long-term, economically sustainable approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the dairy industry,” she explains. “When embedded into the current breeding program, and in the broader context of a resilience index, we are achieving a huge goal while still increasing production and fertility and improving welfare via selection for health traits. That’s a win for everyone: reduced costs for farmers, improved health and resilience for cows, reduction in emissions and use of resources for the environment, provision of safe, nutritious and high-quality protein for consumers, and reduction in the environmental footprint of dairy for everyone.”

University of Guelph research technicians carry out methane testing as part of the Resilient Dairy Genome Project. Over the past eight years, more than 60 undergraduate and graduate student volunteers have helped collect methane data, making development of genomic evaluations for methane in Canada possible.

How It Works

Dr. Filippo Miglior, an adjunct professor at the University of Guelph and Lactanet’s

Senior Advisor for Genetic Strategic Initiatives, is also a member of the RDGP. He says a cow’s methane emissions can be predicted in milk using mid-infrared spectroscopy (MIR), a technology already used to analyze milk components including fat and protein percentages by measuring the absorption of light through the samples. Lactanet’s genetic evaluations for Methane Efficiency were developed using methane predictions from milk spectral data and methane data collected from several research projects including the RDGP. Spectral data are regularly collected as a part of Canada’s rigorous milk quality system, which Baes says is integral to the success of these latest genetic evaluations.

“It’s amazing that Canada is the first to publish these evaluations and we really have to give credit to producers who have worked hard together to build a consistent infrastructure for data collection and sharing,” Baes explains. “Registering animals, collecting and storing milk data; they’ve contributed for decades and it means we can easily deploy new technology, systems and analysis because we keep our house in order.”

For Baes and the Resilient Dairy Genome Project team, these evaluations represent the research coming full circle because producers can use these genetic evaluations to select sires whose daughters have a predisposition to producing less methane without sacrificing production traits.

“The higher a sire’s Relative Breeding Value (RBV) for Methane Efficiency, the less methane their daughters are expected to produce,” explains Miglior. “For every five-point increase in a sire’s RBV, their daughters are expected to produce approximately three kilograms less methane per year. This leads to a 1.5 per cent reduction in methane emissions per cow per year, making a 20 to 30 per cent reduction by 2050 possible.”

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Baes is hopeful and proud about the Canadian dairy industry she envisions by 2050.

“I see us as a serious and major part of the global solution to greenhouse gas emission reduction. I see our country playing a role in the world having a stable, robust and food secure future.”

Katie Duncan is Communications Specialist for Dairy at Guelph, at the University of Guelph.