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      An Exploration on Greenhouse Gas and Ammonia Production by Insect Species Suitable for Animal or Human Consumption

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          Abstract

          Background

          Greenhouse gas (GHG) production, as a cause of climate change, is considered as one of the biggest problems society is currently facing. The livestock sector is one of the large contributors of anthropogenic GHG emissions. Also, large amounts of ammonia (NH 3), leading to soil nitrification and acidification, are produced by livestock. Therefore other sources of animal protein, like edible insects, are currently being considered.

          Methodology/Principal Findings

          An experiment was conducted to quantify production of carbon dioxide (CO 2) and average daily gain (ADG) as a measure of feed conversion efficiency, and to quantify the production of the greenhouse gases methane (CH 4) and nitrous oxide (N 2O) as well as NH 3 by five insect species of which the first three are considered edible: Tenebrio molitor, Acheta domesticus, Locusta migratoria, Pachnoda marginata, and Blaptica dubia. Large differences were found among the species regarding their production of CO 2 and GHGs. The insects in this study had a higher relative growth rate and emitted comparable or lower amounts of GHG than described in literature for pigs and much lower amounts of GHG than cattle. The same was true for CO 2 production per kg of metabolic weight and per kg of mass gain. Furthermore, also the production of NH 3 by insects was lower than for conventional livestock.

          Conclusions/Significance

          This study therefore indicates that insects could serve as a more environmentally friendly alternative for the production of animal protein with respect to GHG and NH 3 emissions. The results of this study can be used as basic information to compare the production of insects with conventional livestock by means of a life cycle analysis.

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          Energy metabolism and body size. I. Is the 0.75 mass exponent of Kleiber's equation a statistical artifact?

          A.A. Heusner (1982)
          The statistical derivation of Kleiber's 0.75 interspecific mass exponent 'b' is based on an assumption that the mass coefficient 'a' is constant irrespective of a mammal's size and/or species. Analysis of covariance, a statistical technique not based on this assumption, reveals that the mass coefficient is not constant in a series of 7 species (Peromyscus m., mice, rats, cats, dogs, sheep, and cattle) but increases threefold with the size of the animal. THe mass coefficient is a power x mass-2/3, the power being expressed in watts and the mass in kg. (Peromyscus m.: a = 1.91 +/- 0.09; cattle: a = 6.06 +/- 0.14). The intragroup mass exponent is equal to 0.67 +/- 0.03 and is significantly different from 0.75. This study shows that the 0.75 interspecific mass exponent in Kleiber's equation is a statistical artifact and suggests that the data from literature are consistent with the theory of biological similitude of Lambert and Teissier.
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            Methane emissions from feedlot cattle fed barley or corn diets.

            S McGinn, Catherine Beauchemin (2005)
            Methane emitted from the livestock sector contributes to greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Understanding the variability in enteric methane production related to diet is essential to decreasing uncertainty in greenhouse gas emission inventories and to identifying viable greenhouse gas reduction strategies. Our study focused on measuring methane in growing beef cattle fed corn- or barley-based diets typical of those fed to cattle in North American feedlots. The experiment was designed as a randomized complete block (group) design with two treatments, barley and corn. Angus heifer calves (initial BW = 328 kg) were allocated to two groups (eight per group), with four cattle in each group fed a corn or barley diet. The experiment was conducted over a 42-d backgrounding phase, a 35-d transition phase and a 32-d finishing phase. Backgrounding diets consisted of 70% barley silage or corn silage and 30% concentrate containing steam-rolled barley or dry-rolled corn (DM basis). Finishing diets consisted of 9% barley silage and 91% concentrate containing barley or corn (DM basis). All diets contained monensin (33 mg/kg of DM). Cattle were placed into four large environmental chambers (two heifers per chamber) during each phase to measure enteric methane production for 3 d. During the backgrounding phase, DMI was greater by cattle fed corn than for those fed barley (10.2 vs. 7.6 kg/d, P < 0.01), but during the finishing phase, DMI was similar for both diets (8.3 kg/d). The DMI was decreased to 6.3 kg/d with no effect of diet or phase while the cattle were in the chambers; thus, methane emissions (g/d) reported may underestimate those of the feedlot industry. Methane emissions per kilogram of DMI and as a percentage of GE intake were not affected by grain source during the backgrounding phase (24.6 g/kg of DMI; 7.42% of GE), but were less (P < 0.05) for corn than for barley during the finishing phase (9.2 vs. 13.1 g/kg of DMI; 2.81 vs. 4.03% of GE). The results indicate the need to implement dietary strategies to decrease methane emissions of cattle fed high-forage backgrounding diets and barley-based finishing diets. Mitigating methane losses from cattle will have long-term environmental benefits by decreasing agriculture's contribution to greenhouse gas emissions.
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              Greenhouse gas emissions from conventional, agri-environmental scheme, and organic Irish suckler-beef units.

              J Casey, N M Holden (2015)
              The problems of overproduction within the European Union countries and the environmental impact of agriculture have lead to the introduction of schemes that aim to reduce both. Beef (Bos taurus) production forms a large component of the Irish agricultural industry and accounts for more than one quarter of agricultural economic output. Recently, the European CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) has been re-evaluated to include supplementary measures that encompass the environmental role of agriculture rather than just the production role. A life cycle assessment (LCA) method was adopted to estimate emissions per kilogram of CO2 equivalent per kilogram of live weight (LW) leaving the farm gate per annum (kg CO2 kg(-1) LW yr(-1)) and per hectare (kg CO2 ha(-1) yr(-1)). Fifteen units engaged in suckler-beef production (five conventional, five in an Irish agri-environmental scheme, and five organic units) were evaluated for emissions per unit product and area. The average emissions from the conventional units were 13.0 kg CO2 kg(-1) LW yr(-1), from the agri-environmental scheme units 12.2 kg CO2 kg(-1) LW yr(-1), and from the organic units 11.1 kg CO2 kg LW yr(-1). The average emissions per unit area from the conventional units was 5346 kg CO2 ha(-1) yr(-1), from the agri-environmental scheme units 4372 kg CO2 ha(-1) yr(-1), and from the organic units 2302 kg CO2 ha(-1) yr(-1). Results indicated that moving toward extensive production could reduce emissions per unit product and area but live weight production per hectare would be reduced.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                : Role: Editor
                Journal
                Journal ID (nlm-ta): PLoS One
                Journal ID (publisher-id): plos
                Journal ID (pmc): plosone
                Title: PLoS ONE
                Publisher: Public Library of Science (San Francisco, USA )
                ISSN (Electronic): 1932-6203
                Publication date Collection: 2010
                Publication date (Electronic): 29 December 2010
                Volume: 5
                Issue: 12
                Electronic Location Identifier: e14445
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Laboratory of Entomology, Department of Plant Sciences, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands
                [2 ]Adaptation Physiology Group, Wageningen Institute of Animal Sciences, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands
                New Mexico State University, United States of America
                Author notes

                Conceived and designed the experiments: DO HvdB JvL AvH. Performed the experiments: DO JvI. Analyzed the data: DO JvI MJWH. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: MJWH. Wrote the paper: DO HvdB JvL AvH.

                Article
                Publisher ID: 10-PONE-RA-21199R2
                DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0014445
                PMC ID: 3012052
                PubMed ID: 21206900
                SO-VID: cefc2e67-f1ac-4743-b45b-68d4dd5b7c89
                Copyright © Oonincx et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
                History
                Date received : 16 July 2010
                Date accepted : 29 November 2010
                Page count
                Pages: 7
                Categories
                Subject: Research Article
                Subject: Nutrition
                Subject: Chemical Biology/Small Molecule Chemistry
                Subject: Ecology/Global Change Ecology

                ScienceOpen disciplines: Uncategorized
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