Effects of diet types on methane production and carbon residue of metabolites of Xinjiang fine wool sheep

This study explored a way which could decrease or control the rument animal methane gas production. The objective of the present study was to investigate the effects of diet types on methane production and carbon residue in metabolites of Xinjiang fine wool sheep. Sixty sheep, which were 4 months old and had a (25±1) kg body weight, were used in a completely randomized design and divided into four groups, which were group Ⅰ (the concentrate to forage rate was 20:80, and the forage was dry corn stalks), group Ⅱ (the concentrate to forage rate was 20:80, and the forage was corn silage), group Ⅲ (the concentrate to forage rate was 40:60, and the forage was dry corn stalks), and group Ⅳ (the concentrate to forage rate was 40:60, and the forage was corn silage), respectively. The feeding, residues, feces, and urine were recorded and collected on post-feeding every day on the 11th to 17th days. Then parts of the samples were collected from the 7 days' mixed samples by the quarter method, and -20℃ preservation for measuring carbon in the laboratory. The 24 h methane gas was collected on post-feeding every day on the 11th to 17th days. The results showed that methane production of groupⅡ was reduced (P<0.01) compared with the groupⅠ, and the group Ⅳ was lower 12% than the group Ⅲ (P>0.05) when the corn silage was substituted for corn stalks. When the forge were corn stalks, methane production per unit of dry matter was significant lower with the concentrate to forage rate increased (P<0.05), while no difference was observed when the forge were corn silage with the concentrate to forage rate increased. Carbon residue in metabolites of group Ⅳ was lower than group Ⅰ(P<0.05), and groupⅡ and group Ⅳ were reduced by 16.67% and 9.09% compared with groupⅠand group Ⅲ (P>0.05), respectively. In this study, we found that the diet types have a significant effect for methane gas production and metabolite carbon residue on Xinjiang fine wool sheep.