Accurate estimates of enteric methane (CH₄) emissions are needed to ascertain the efficacy of mitigation strategies proposed for cattle in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Models used for cattle in SSA were developed using data on metabolic processes measured from cattle in temperate regions which may lead to inaccurate enteric CH₄ estimates. Therefore, we assessed the suitability of different enteric CH₄ models for estimating the gross energy intake (GEI) of cattle in SSA. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and South African models were identified as tier 2-based methods for estimating enteric CH₄ emissions from cattle in SSA. Also, the British and German net energy systems were implemented in the IPCC model to yield two other models. These four models were evaluated using a dataset summarizing feed quality and intake results from 21 studies conducted in SSA. Only the South African model estimated the GEI of dairy cattle with an error of <20% (acceptable cutoff point), while the other three models yielded estimates with the error of >20%. None of the four models estimated GEI for nondairy cattle with an error of <20%. We provide the first estimate of model uncertainty that may be applied to enteric CH₄ estimates from cattle in SSA.

Read the full article in the Journal of Animal Science.