Research On CH₄Emission From Sheep Respiration And Sheepfolds During The Grazing Season In Desert Grassland Of Inner Mongolia

Methane (CH4) has an influence on global warming and CH4emissions from ruminants occupy an important part of agricultural greenhouse gas inventories. This experiment was carried out in stipa breviflora desert steppe of Inner Mongolia in2012. In this study, CH4emission from sheep respiration at different grazing intensities (light grazing,0.75sheep/ha, LG; moderate grazing,1.50sheep/ha, MG; and heavy grazing,2.25sheep/ha. HG) and in sheepfolds were evaluated in desert grassland of Inner Mongolia. The face mask method was used for the measurement of CH4emission from sheep respiration, and the static opaque chamber method was used for the measurement of CH4flux from sheepfolds.Results indicate that daily CH4emission from sheep was not significantly different between treatments, whereas expressed on emissions per100g daily weight gain there was a significance(P<0.05) differences of LG vs HG and MG vs HG. with emissions per100g daily weight gain of15.64g,20.00g and28.63g for LG. MG and HG, respectively, during the grazing season; there was no significant difference among CH4fluxes from different months in sheepfolds, the mean was39.0ug m-2h-1; considering CH4emissions from the grazing ecosystem, net CH4emissions from LG, MG and HG plots were-18.33,-1.91and21.19-g/ha/day. respectively; the digestibility of forage had a significance(P<0.05) positive correlation with CH4emission expressed on daily and metabolic body weight basis.Results suggest that MG will improve the balance between CH4emission from grassland and grazing livestock in desert grasslands of Inner Mongolia.