Genetics and breeding for reduced methane emissions

Selective breeding in dairy cattle offers a cost-effective, permanent, and cumulative strategy to mitigate methane emissions. By incorporating methane traits into breeding objectives, reductions in methane production of approximately 1% per year can be achieved. This chapter discusses the integration of methane traits into dairy cattle breeding programs. It begins by exploring various methods for recording methane emissions from individual cows. Collecting records on thousands of individual cows is essential to make informed breeding decisions. Thereafter, the chapter discusses how data collected by different recording techniques can be processed into traits that are promising to include in breeding programmes. The chapter then reviews genetic parameters estimated for these traits and considers their implications for designing recording schemes for genetic evaluations. Finally, the chapter addresses the implementation of selection strategies aimed at methane mitigation within existing or new breeding programs.