This document discusses developing country-specific emission factors for livestock systems in Colombia. It notes that Colombia has diverse ecosystems and cattle production systems, requiring the development of at least four distinct emission factors. The document reviews techniques for measuring methane and nitrous oxide emissions from cattle using SF6 tracer gas and closed static chambers, and identifies ways to reduce the costs of such measurements, such as decreasing sampling frequency. The goal is to develop more accurate country-specific emission factors to better quantify greenhouse gas emissions from Colombian agriculture.

1. DEVELOPING COUNTRY - SPECIFIC
EMISSION FACTORS
FOR LIVESTOCK SYSTEMS IN COLOMBIA
EDGAR
ALBERTO
CÁRDENAS
ROCHA
Associate
Professor
Faculty
of
Veterinary
Medicine
and
Zootechnic
Na8onal
University
of
Colombia
Bogotá
Workshop:
“Reducing
the
costs
of
GHG
es7mates
in
agriculture
to
inform
low
emissions
development”
10
-­‐
12
November
2014
-­‐
Rome,
Italy

2. Tundra
hAp://www.cambioclima8co.yucatan.gob.mx/
CLIMATE
Tropical
rainforest
Tropical
savanna
Deser8c
Steppe
Summer
rains
Mediterranean
Low
rainfall
Cold
snowy
forest
High
mountain
Perpetual
snow

3. PASTURES
DISTRIBUTION
IN
THE
WORLD
Pastures
hAp://www.news.wisc.edu/11907,
Center
for
Sustainability
and
the
Global
Environment
at
the
University
of
Wisconsin-­‐Madison
2005

4. CATTLE
SYSTEMS
IN
COLOMBIA
Prod.
Syst.
world
9th
posi8on
in
caAle
inventory
24.5
mill.
of
head
Al8tude
Temp
Soil
Fer8lity
(%)
(masl)
°C
Beef
30
0
–
1.000
>24
L
–
M
-­‐
H
Dual
purpose
62
1.000
–
2.000
18
-­‐
24
Low
Dairy
8
2.000
–
3.000
4
-­‐
16
Medium

5. STRATEGIC AREAS FOR BEEF AND DAIRY CATTLE PRODUCTION
IN COLOMBIA
ANDEAN
REGION
(Dual
purpose)
250
–
400
g/h/d
<
800
l/y

7. hAp://www.grida.no/graphicslib/detail/la8n-­‐america-­‐greenhouse-­‐gas-­‐emiAers-­‐by-­‐sector_173c

8. COLOMBIAN AGRICULTURE GHG EMISSIONS
SOURCE
CH4
N2O
CO2
eq.
Propor:on
(Gg)
(%)
Enteric
fermenta8on
1.585
-­‐
33.292
51
Manure
management
48
0,8
1.252
2
Rice
crops
65
-­‐
1.372
2
Crops
soils
-­‐
94(17%)
29.137
45
Savanna
burning
3
0
2
0,09
Burning
of
crops
residues
3
0,008
92
0,14
Total
1.704
95
65.206
100
IDEAM
2008

9. PRODUCT
BEEF
AND
MILK
PRODUCTION
IN
COLOMBIA
Year
hAp://www.contextoganadero.com/internacional/
CO2
eq/kg
2012
Beef,
ton/y
972.866
¿?
Milk,
mill.
kg/y
7.200
¿?

10. FONTAGRO
PROYECT
COUNTRIES
The
Research
Consor8um
“Climate
Change
and
Beef
CaAle
Produc8on:
Quan8fica8on
and
Mi8ga8on
of
Methane
and
Nitrous
Oxide
Emissions
from
Grazing
Beef
CaAle”

11. CLIMATE
CHANGE
AND
BEEF
CATTLE
PRODUCTION
IN
SOUTH
AMERICAN
COUNTRIES
(2011
–
2014)
INTA
Argen8na
INIA
Chile
UNAL
Colombia
FONTAGRO
2010
Regional
Fund
for
Agriculture
MAF-­‐
NZ
Global
Research
Alliance
30%
70%
IDIAF
Dominican
Rep.
INIA
Uruguay

12. CLIMATE
CHANGE
AND
BEEF
CATTLE
PRODUCTION
IN
SOUTH
AMERICAN
COUNTRIES
Long
Term
OBJETIVES
contribute
to
the
mi8ga8on
of
climate
change
caused
by
GHG
emissions
(CH4
and
NO)
from
the
livestock
sector
2General
Research
reduce
the
uncertainty
in
the
development
of
na8onal
GHG’s
(CH4
and
N2O)
inventories
of
the
countries
within
the
consor8um
and
to
develop
mi8ga8on
op8ons
adapted
to
the
farming
condi8ons
of
each
country

13. CLIMATE
CHANGE
AND
BEEF
CATTLE
PRODUCTION
IN
SOUTH
AMERICAN
COUNTRIES
However!...
Ø U8liza8on
of
Default
Emission
Factors
Important
uncertain:es
around
es:mated
emissions
Therefore...
-­‐
there
is
an
urgent
need
among
the
countries
of
South
and
Central
America
to
elucidate
country
specific
EFs
(CHand
NO);
4
2and
-­‐
to
develop
mi8ga8on
techniques
to
reduce
GHG
emissions
from
the
agricultural
sectors

15. VARIATION
ON
FORAGE
QUALITY
BY
REGION
(DIGETIBILITY,
INTAKE)
Medium
diges:bility
Panicum
maximum
Dichanthium
annulatum
Echinochloa
polystachya
Bothriochloa
pertusa
Low
diges:bility
Brachiaria
humidicola
Brachiaria
decumbens
Axonopus
purpusii
Higher
diges:bility
Lolium
spp.
Pennisetum
clandes7num
Low
diges:bility
Melinis
minu7flora
Paspalum
notatum
Homolepis
aturensis
Higher
diges:bility
Cynodon
nlemfuensis
Digitaria
decumbens
Dichanthium
aristatum

16. EQUATION
10.21
CH4
EMISSION
FACTORS
FOR
ENTERIC
FERMENTATION
FROM
A
LIVESTOCK
CATEGORY
E
F=
Ym
100
GE
* *365
EF=
emission
factor,
kg
CH4/head/yr
GE=
gross
energy
intake,
MJ/head/day
Ym=
methane
conversión
factor,
per
cent
of
gross
energy
in
feed
converted
to
methane
The
factor
55.65
(MJ/kg
CH4)
is
the
energy
content
of
methane
55.65
EMISSION
FACTOR
EQUATION
10.16
GROSS
ENERGY
FOR
CATTLE/BUFFALO
AND
SHEEP
GE=
NEm+
NEl
+
NEa
+
NEw
+
NEp
REM
+ NEg
+
NEwool
REG
DE
%
100
GE
=
gross
energy,
MJ/day
NEm
=
net
energy
for
maintenance,
MJ/d
NEa
=
net
energy
for
ac8vity,
MJ/d
NEl
=
net
energy
for
lacta8on,
MJ/d
NEw
=
net
energy
for
work,
MJ/d
NEp
=
net
energy
for
pregnancy,
MJ/d
REM
=
ra8o
of
net
energy
available
in
a
diet
for
maintenance
to
diges8ble
energy
consumed
NEg
=
net
energy
for
growth,
MJ/d
NEw
=
net
energy
for
wool,
MJ/d
REG
=
ra8o
of
net
energy
avail.
for
growth
in
a
diet
to
diges8ble
energy
consumed
DE%
=
diges8ble
energy
expressed
as
a
percentage
of
GE

17. ¿HOW
TO
REDUCE
COSTS
TO
MEASURE
GHG
USING
SF6
AND
CLOSE
STATIC
CHAMBERS
TECHNIQUES?
METHANE
Is
necessary
to
measure
diges8bility,
intake,
milk
produc8on
or
liveweigth
gains.
Only
methane
data
is
not
enough
to
es8mate
specific
EF.
-­‐ Measure
enteric
methane
with
SF6
tracer
is
expensive,
but
is
possible
to
reduce
cost
collec8ng
samples
each
10
days
from
caAle
(Gere
–
Argen8na-­‐NZ).
-­‐ Other
method
to
reduce
costs
is
to
es8mate
CH4
emissions
from
CH4/CO2
ra8o
or
voluntary
intake
under
grazing,
they
are
a
good
indicators
to
predict
methane
emissions.
NITROUS
OXIDE
-­‐ Reduce
frecuency
of
sampling
through
trial.

18. CONSIDERATIONS
-­‐ Colombia
needs
to
es8mate
at
least
4
EF
due
to
its
different
ecosystems
characterized
by
differences
in
the
quality
of
their
forages
and
caAle
systems.
-­‐ We
can
use
modifica8ons
in
SF6
and
Close
Sta8c
Chambers
to
measure
to
lower
costs
GHG
THANKS
!!!