Regionalized estimates of enteric methane emissions from cattle raised in Italian territory

Abstract

Abstract Within the framework of the Extended Partnership "Economic-Financial Sustainability of Systems and Territories" (GRINS Project Spoke 1, WP3), this work proposes a regional estimate of the amount of enteric methane produced by cattle raised in the Italian territory. These data will be used to create national and regional datasets that will be an integral part of the AMELIA platform and will be freely available for use by both public and private managers for environmental impact assessments in the livestock sector. To this purpose, the IPCC (level 2) provides statistical models capable of evaluating this parameter, considering population, daily weight gain, animal weight, type of breeding, and dietary intake for each considered breed. In particular, in the calculation of enteric emissions, 37 pure breeds with different attitudes (milk, meat, and dual-purpose) have been considered, whose population is significant (>1%) at the national and/or regional level. For each individual breed, six classes have been considered, considering age and gender of the cattle. In addition, 22 crossbred breeds have been added, 21 specifics to each region and one at the national level. Regional emissions have been estimated by considering the average population of each breed in the period 2019-2022, normalizing the contributions of the individual species in a delimited territory and/or geographic area. In this way, six contributions have been calculated for each Italian region, representing a statistical assessment of the emissions that will subsequently be confirmed in the field through direct measurements using innovative instrumental technologies. Overall, this analysis offers a comprehensive view of how regional factors, and the composition of cattle breeds can impact greenhouse gas emissions. These findings provide valuable guidance for advancing sustainability initiatives within the agricultural sector.