A new Tier 3 method to calculate methane emission inventory for ruminants

Livestock is the main source of methane (CH₄) emissions. It is important to accurately determine emissions from ruminants that meet standardized international guidelines for national greenhouse gas inventories. A new method to improve the accuracy of CH₄ emissions that complies with IPCC rules for a Tier 3 method is described and evaluated. This method, developed by INRA (French Institute for Agricultural Research), was applied to the French inventory of CH₄ emissions by ruminants and compared with the IPCC Tier 2 method. For enteric CH₄, depending on the animal category, the INRA CH₄ emission estimates lay between 88% and 114% of IPCC's. The INRA/IPCC ratio for enteric emission was close to unity and did not differ between methods (P = 0.43) for adult cows (i.e. most cattle). In France, feedlot manure is stored in aerobic conditions, and so the INRA/IPCC fit for manure emission was poorer (P < 0.05). The INRA/IPCC fit for enteric CH₄ was very close between methods to that for total CH₄ (P = 0.39), enteric CH₄ representing 93% of total emissions. The main improvement is the use of a robust equation (from numerous data and diets), based on digestible organic matter intake (DOMI) corrected for the digestive interactions, to predict CH₄ consistently from enteric and manure sources. It was developed for the French livestock inventory but is customizable for other countries. This new improved CH₄ estimation method, based on equations from a large literature database, complies with IPCC rules for a Tier 3 method.