Vibeke Lind
Research Scientist
Biography
I have a livestock background and work on feed intake, feeding and grazing strategies for sheep. I did my doctorate on meat quality in lambs that are finished on different types of pasture or on forage. I work primarily towards greenhouse gases from ruminants and at Tjøtta we have built up an approved animal testing department for sheep. We have the option of individual feeding of up to 24 animals. We have 6 respiratory chambers for measuring enteric methane production from sheep and 6 metabolism boxes for measuring feed utilization in sheep. Lastly, we have 9 castrated rams. Otherwise we get access to animals from Tjøtta farm.
Authors
Vibeke Lind Özge Sizmaz Ahu Demirtas Mert Sudagidan Simon Weldon Alice Budai Adam O'Toole Dejan Dragan Miladinovic Grete H. M. JørgensenAbstract
Biochar, which is the product of biomass pyrolysis, has been suggested as a feed supplement to improve performance in livestock systems and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The aim of the current study was to investigate in vitro and in vivo potential of biochar to favourably modify rumen fermentation (e.g., an increase in total Short Chained Fatty Acid (SCFA) concentration and a change in SCFA profile), reduce methane emission and increase sheep growth performance. Four concentrates were produced with biochar inclusion of 0, 10, 23 and 46 g/kg DM. The experimental diets for the in vitro experiments consisted of straw and concentrate in a 60:40 ratio and included measurements of total gas and methane (CH4) production, pH, ammonia nitrogen, SCFA, and microbial assays (total bacteria and methanogenic archaea). Two in vivo experiments were performed where the animals received ad libitum forage with 0.4 kg concentrate daily. Experiment 1 investigated the daily DM intake of sheep while experiment 2 investigated daily growth rate and CH4 emission of lambs. The inclusion of biochar had no impact on in vitro total gas production (ml/200 mg DM substrate) (P = 0.81) and CH4 production (ml/200 mg DM substrate) (P = 0.93). In vitro total SCFA concentration increased (P < 0.05) while acetate to propionate ratio (A:P) tended to decrease (P = 0.05) with both doses of biochar. Total bacteria decreased with the highest biochar inclusion in vitro (P < 0.05). Sheep’s DM intake (kg/d) increased when low and medium levels but not when a higher level of biochar was added to the diet (P < 0.001). The inclusion of biochar did not significantly impact the lamb’s daily growth rate (g/d) (P = 0.61) or enteric CH4 emissions (g/kg DM) (P = 0.43). We conclude that biochar supplementation had no favourable impacts on in vitro and in vivo CH4 production or on lamb’s growth rate. Further research with well-characterised biochar is needed to gain a better understanding of the potential of biochar as a feed additive for ruminant livestock.
Authors
Martin Komainda Jesus Fernández-Habas Pilar Fernández-Rebollo Johannes Isselstein Mariusz Kulik Vibeke LindAbstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Vibeke LindAbstract
No abstract has been registered
