Evolving demand for animal feed research for sustainable intensification of agriculture

Evolving demand for animal feed research for sustainable intensification of agriculture

Michael Peters and Michael Blummel

Topics

• Global importance of livestock and its positive and negative effect

• Feed resourcing and feeding at he interface of positive and negative effects

• Key intervention and mitigation strategies

Global importance of (forage/roughage based) crop-livestock systems

• Nearly one-third of the global human appropriation of net primary production occurs on grazing lands

• Livestock account for 40% of global agricultural gross domestic product

• Livestock production supports livelihoods of more than 1 billon globally, including 600 million of the world’s poorest

• Livestock products supply one-third of humanity’s protein intake

Global land use

Land use class Land use (ice-free) in 2000

(Mkm2)%

Forests under use 35.0 26.8Agricultural land 62.1 47.6 - Permanent pastures 34.1 26.1 - Cropland 15.2 11.6 . Used as feedstuff 3.9 3.0 . Fodder crops 1.4 1.1Livestock feeding 52.2 40.0Total ice-free 130.5 100.0

Peters et al., 2013

Importance of livestock in developing countries: • Smallholders predominate• Livestock: smallholders…‐ produce 50% of beef, 41% of milk, 72% of mutton, 59% of

pork, and 53% of poultry‐ provide food for at least 830 million food insecure people

Livestock Production & Smallholders

Global meat consumption pattern

Adopted from: McMichael et al., 2007

Country/category Gram per day

Developed countries 224 Developing countries 47 Africa 31 Latin America 147

Livestock sector & GHG “hoofprint”

Soil Fertilization20%

Energy17%

Rice10%

Manure Ma-nagement

7%

Ruminant Enteric Fer-mentation

34%

Ruminant Wastes on Pastures

12%

Global greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural productionPercent100% = 6.5 GT CO2 e in 2010

Sources: WRI analysis based on EPA 2012 and FAO 2012 with adjustments

GHG emissions from livestock sector

By main animal species and commodities

Mton CO2 eq

Source: Gerber et al, 2012

Beef Catt

le

Dairy C

attle Pigs

Buffalo

Chickens

Small

Ruminants

Other Poultr

y0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

2495

2128

668 618 612474

72Beef Pork Eggs Milk Poultry

80

2540

3020

Kg CO2 e / Kg protein

Source: DeVries (2009)

Per unit of protein

Spatial distribution of GHG emission intensities by livestock

low animal productivity across large areas of arid lands where feed is

scarce and of low quality and animals have low productive potential

Moderate emission intensities occur throughout the

developing world, in places with important beef production

In most of the developed world, emission intensities are low, due to more intensive feeding practices, feed

conversion-efficient breeds of livestock, and temperate climates where feed quality is mostly higher

Source: Herrero et al. 2013. Global greenhouse gas efficiency per kilogram of animal protein produced

Liters of water needed to produce one kilogram of product

Liters of water per kilogram of product

Source: Waterfootprint.org, Gleick 2009

BeefPork

Chicken

Rice

Sorgh

um

Soyb

eanWheat

MilkMaiz

ePotat

o0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

16000

27110

450600

1000

Native savannaDegraded pastureGrass/legume pasture with fertilizerImproved pasture with maizePasture after 3 years of maize-soybean rotation

Rincón, 2009

Crop-livestock integration to increase animal live weight gain (kg/ha/year) in the acid soil savannas of Colombia

Transition from extensive systems towards mixed more intensive crop-livestock systems could allow for mitigating GHG emissions without compromising food security

Reduced methane (CH4) production can result from land sparing

Almost landless, grain-fed livestock systems have economic advantages in terms of production rates and scale effects, but can lead to direct competition for food

Livestock convert low nutrient dense roughage into high-biological-value foods that are highly nutrient dense

Comparing the environmental footprint of systems requires not only analysis of their direct GHG emissions but the environmental costs of feed production

Need for sustainable intensification to improve eco-efficiency

Opportunities through forage-based systems to reduce GHG emissions

1) Increasing C stocks

2) Reducing CH4 emissions per unit of livestock product and net CH4 emissions by reducing animal numbers

3) Reducing nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions

Soil organic carbon (SOC) under pastures of Brachiaria humidicola alone (Bh) and with Arachis pintoi

(Bh/Ap) and native savanna (NS) on a clay loam Oxisol on the eastern plains

of Colombia(Fisher et al., 1996)

SOC in three predominant land-use systems in the eastern plains of

Colombia (Castro et al., 2012 unpublished)

Alm

acen

amie

nto

de C

(t h

a-1

)

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

Pasto MejoradoPasto mejorado degradadoSabana Nativa

(a) Puerto López (b) Puerto Gaitán (c) PromedioAverage

Improved pastureImproved pasture (degraded)Native Savanna

C st

ock

(t h

a-1

)

% C (modified Walkley-Black)

Improved pastures & C accumulationD

epth

(cm

)

Benefits from BNI

Effects of BNI from Brachiaria humidicola

pasture on subsequent maize crop

(CIAT-JIRCAS-Corpoica, 2013)M

aize

gra

in y

ield

(kg

ha-1

)

N fertilization (kg N ha-1)

Preceding land use

Feed resourcing and feeding : the

interface

Water: where does it go?

10 15 20 25 30 350

2

4

6

8

10

12

Temperature (oC)

Wat

er in

take

(kg/

kgDM

feed

/day

)

Water for fodder and milk :Gujerat in India

Gujerat 3,400 l of water per kg of milk10,000 l of water for fodder/animal/day

Global 900 l of water per kg of milk

Source: Singh et al., 2004

Requirement for 1 MJ ME ranged from 12.9 liter H2O to 61.5 liter H2O

Source: Blϋmmel et al., 2009

OMTDR SCFA MBP GAS= + +

MBP

SCFA

GAS

Short chain fatty acids (C2, C3, C4)

supply energy to host animal

Microbial biomass supplies protein to host animal ( but also

CHO, lipids)

CH4 und CO2 ,losses to rumen Microbes and host animal alike

è

è

è

Principles Generalization of ruminal microbial feed degradation

Combined SCFA and EMP effects on methane production

100 150 200 250 300 350 40017.5

22.5

27.5

32.5

37.5

42.5

47.5

52.5

57.5

62.5

67.5

high concentrate (high propionate)high roughage (high acetate)

Microbial biomass produced per kg feed digested (g/kg)

CH4 (

l) pr

oduc

ed p

er k

g fe

ed d

iges

ted

Source: Blümmel and Krishna 2003

Actual average across herd milk yields (3.61 kg/d) and scenario-dependent

ME requirements for total milk production (81.8 million t/y)

ME required (MJ x 109)Milk (kg/d) Maintenance Production Total

3.61 (05/06) 1247.6 573.9 1821.56 (Scenario 1) 749.9 573.9 1323.89 (Scenario 2) 499.9 573.9 1073.8

12 (Scenario 3) 374.9 573.9 948.815 (Scenario 4) 299.9 573.9 873.9

Source: Blϋmmel et al., 2009

Effect of increasing average daily milk yields on overall methane emissions from dairy in India

* Calculated based on CAGR

Livestock revolution: Impact on energy and feed requirements

2005-06 2020 2020 fixed LP

Milk (million tons) 91.8 172 172yield/day (kg) 3.6 5.24 6.76Numbers (000) 69759 89920 * 69759

Metabolizable energy requirements (MJ x 109)Maintenance 1247.64 1608.22 1247.6Production 573.94 1075.00 1075.0Total 1821.58 2683.22 23266.6

Feed Requirements (m tons) 247.50 364.57 315.6

CR becoming more important

Kahsay Berhe (2004) study in Yarer Mountain area

Cultivated land has doubled at the expense of pasture in 30 years Switch in source of nutrition for livestock from grazing to CR

Area under different land use categories

Land cover types Area in 1971/72 (ha) % Area in

2000 (ha) %

Agriculture 7186 25.00 16204 56.38Forestry 2581 8.99 2696 9.37Water reservoirs 190 0.66 312 1.09Wetlands 0 0 132 0.46Pasture 18784 65.35 9397 32.70Total 28741 100.00 28741 100.00

Implications for feed resources and feed work

Feed demand is not a “constant” but dependent on the level of intensification besides amount of ASF production

Effect of intensification ie reduction in livestock numbers on water use and GHG emission more drastic and realistic than some proposed high end science intervention

Feed resourcing need to take shrinking arable land and water availability serious