Climate Change Impacts on Basin Agro-ecosystems by Tsugihiro Watanabe & Selim Kapur & Mehmet Aydın & Rıza Kanber & Erhan Akça

Author:Tsugihiro Watanabe & Selim Kapur & Mehmet Aydın & Rıza Kanber & Erhan Akça
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030010362
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Animal productivity should be increased, whereas the number of animals should be decreased (but this situation poses an economic problem for farmers);

The amount of nitrogen applied to soil for crop and roughage production should be decreased;

The amount of feed sources rich in nitrogen used in animal feeding should be decreased.

11.3.3 Methane (CH4) Emission

It is now well known that the global warming potential of methane is 23 times greater than that of CO2 and its concentration in the atmosphere has increased by 150%, compared to the level measured in 1750. Animal production is responsible for 16% of the methane production which is caused by human activities (Steinfeld et al. 2006). Watson et al. (1992) calculated that 39% of the annual methane emission originating from agriculture is caused by enteric fermentation, 29% from rice production areas, 19% from burning herbal wastes and 12% from animal wastes. Bolle et al. (1986) calculated the contribution made by non-biological factors as 32%, rice production areas as 18%, ruminants as 18%, marshes as 13% and other factors as 6%.

The amount of methane produced by individual animals is quite low. For example, a mature cow produces approximately 80–110 kg methane annually (O’Mara 2004; USEPA 2008). The main problem related to ruminants is that their presence in the world has reached nearly 1 billion (FAO 2008) and that this number makes serious contributions to methane emissions. Enteric methane production is likely to reach approximately 15–18% of digestible energy taken from cattle which are fed with bad-quality rough feeds. This situation results from the lack of food substances and inadequate dietary balance for the cultivation of optimal rumen microorganisms, and thus insufficient and inefficient microbial development. The amount of methane released from beef and milk cattle to the atmosphere in the US constitutes 71% of animal methane and 19% of the total methane emission (Steinfeld et al. 2006; EPA 2008).

The contribution made by animal production to the total methane emission is low by enteric fermentation, but high by manure fermentation. It is now well known that the methane-production capacity of stored manures from poultry and pig production constitutes serious methane resources. The methane emission caused by pig manure constitutes approximately half of the methane emission derived from livestock manure in the world (Steinfeld et al. 2006).

If global warming and climate change continue their courses at the estimated speed, they might lead to drought, famine and social conflicts. Desertification-linked social conflicts and settlement shifts in the world are responsible for the decrease in food production and inability to meet water needs. In such cases, the sectors of the community who will be most affected by this situation are farmers. The number of people dealing with animal production in the world is approximately 2 billion (IPCC 2007). Animal production is their only source of income and the number of grazing animals they own is nearly 200 million.

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