Dietary Nitrate for Methane Mitigation Leads to Nitrous Oxide Emissions from Dairy Cows

Nitrate supplements to cattle diets can reduce enteric CH emissions. However, if NO metabolism stimulates NO emissions, the effectiveness of dietary NO for CH mitigation will be reduced. We quantified NO emissions as part of a dairy cow feeding experiment in which urea was substituted in nearly iso-N diets with 0, 5, 14 or 21 g NO kg dry matter (DM). The feeding experiment was a Latin square with repetition of Period 1. Each period lasted 4 wk, with CH emission measurements in Week 4 using respiration chambers. During Period 3, NO concentrations in chamber outlet air were monitored semicontinuously during 48 h. High, but fluctuating, NO concentrations were seen at the two highest NO levels (up to between 2 and 5 μL L), and dynamics were linked with recent feed intake. In Periods 4 and 5, NO concentrations and feed intake were determined from all four respiration chambers during two 7-h periods. Emissions of NO coincided with feed intake, again with NO concentrations in the microliter per liter range at the two highest NO intake levels. Neither feed nor excretion of NO via urine were significant sources of NO, indicating that emissions came from the animals. Leakages due to rumen fistulation could also not account for NO emissions. The possibility that NO is produced in the oral cavity is discussed. Nitrous oxide emission factors ranged between 0.7 and 1.0% except in one case at 21 g NO kg DM, where it was 3.4%. When accounting for NO emissions at the highest NO intake level, the overall GHG mitigation effect in two different animal-diet combinations changed from -47 to -40%, and from -19 to -17%, respectively, due to NO emissions.