Assessment of the Effects of Commercial or Locally Engineered Biochars Produced from Different Biomass Sources and Differing in Their Physical and Chemical Properties on Rumen Fermentation and Methane Production In Vitro

Abstract

In recent years, interest in using biochar as feed additives to mitigate enteric methane (CH4) emissions from ruminants has increased. It has been suggested that the mitigating potential of biochar is influenced by its physical (e.g., porosity-related) and chemical (e.g., redox-potential-related) properties. Thus, the aim of this in vitro study was to evaluate the effects of commercial or locally engineered biochars, produced from different biomass sources and differing in their physical and chemical characteristics, on rumen fermentation and CH4 production. For this purpose, a 24 h batch culture of ruminal fluid incubations was conducted in a complete randomized block design (repeated three times) that included a negative control (no additive), a positive control (monensin, 10 mg/mL), and four commercial and three locally engineered biochars, each evaluated at 1%, 2%, or 5% of the substrate’s (i.e., the total mixed ration) dry matter. The evaluated biochars greatly differ in their chemical (i.e., moisture, ash, pH, redox potential, volatiles, carbon, fixed carbon, hydrogen, and sulfur) and physical (i.e., fine particles < 250 µm, bulk density, true density, porosity, electrical conductivity, specific surface area, and absorbed CO2) properties. Despite these differences and compared with the negative control, none of the biochars evaluated (regardless of the inclusion rate) influenced gas and CH4 production, volatile fatty acid characteristics (total concentration and profile), or ammonia-nitrogen (NH3-N) concentrations. As expected, monensin (i.e., the positive control) decreased (p < 0.05) CH4 production mainly because of a decreased (p < 0.05) acetate-to-propionate ratio. The results of this study reveal that despite the large differences in the physical and chemical properties of the biochars evaluated, their inclusion at different rates in vitro failed to modify rumen fermentation and decrease CH4 production. Based on these in vitro findings, it was concluded that biochar does not represent a viable strategy for mitigating enteric CH4 emissions.