ABSTRACT

The trial aimed to investigate the use of infrared thermography (IRT) to estimate enteric methane production in dairy heifers. The study lasted 5 days with 36 Gyr, Gyr x Holstein and Holstein heifers. The sulphur hexafluoride (SF₆) tracer technique was used to estimate methane emission. Superficial body temperature was obtained with an infrared camera (FLIR® T300) on each side of the animals at 20-minute intervals during eight hours after the morning feeding. Data were analysed using Pearson’s correlation analysis and multivariate regression analysis, as well as two multivariate tests to investigate the relationship with methane emission. The analysis considered all the data together (total) and three subsets: initial (0–150 minutes), middle (150–300) and final period (300–442 minutes after feeding). Based on R² and canonical correlations, the best predictive capacity of methane emission by IRT occurred in the initial and final periods after feeding. Infrared thermography may be a good estimator of methane emission using the SF₆-tracer technique when considering the flanks’ temperature.

摘要

该试验旨在研究使用红外热成像 (IRT) 来估计奶牛中肠道甲烷的产生。该研究持续了 5 天，共有 36 头 Gyr、Gyr x Holstein 和 Holstein 小母牛。六氟化硫（SF ₆) 示踪技术用于估算甲烷排放量。在早晨喂食后的 8 小时内，每隔 20 分钟用红外摄像机 (FLIR® T300) 在动物的每一侧测量表层体温。使用 Pearson 相关分析和多元回归分析以及两个多元检验来分析数据以研究与甲烷排放的关系。该分析综合考虑了所有数据（总计）和三个子集：初始（0-150 分钟）、中间（150-300 分钟）和末期（喂食后 300-442 分钟）。基于 R ²和典型相关，IRT 对甲烷排放的最佳预测能力发生在投喂后的初始和最后阶段。红外热成像可能是使用 SF 的甲烷排放量的一个很好的估计考虑侧面温度时的_{6示踪技术。}