The effect of high dietary cation concentration on methanogenesis by steers fed diets with and without ionophores

Nine steers (300 to 350 kg body weight) were divided into three groups and received either no ionophore, monensin or lasalocid in a 70% cracked corn basal diet for the entire experiment. Within each group, a 3 X 3 Latin-square design was used to evaluate the effect of a high cation concentration added to the diets on in vivo methanogenesis. The three cation treatments consisted of NaCl or KCl addition (Na or K increased to 2.5% of diet dry matter) or no cation addition. Sodium addition decreased methane production in the monensin group 19% when compared with control (P less than .05). Sodium also tended to decrease methane in the lasalocid group (P less than .1) but had no effect on the no-ionophore group. There was no significant effect of K addition on methane production when compared to no added cation. However, K tended to increase methane in both the lasalocid and no-ionophore groups and decrease methane in the monensin group. Results of this experiment support in vitro evidence that cation levels may modulate ionophore effects on methane production.