Abstract
The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between pulmonary arterial pressure (PAP) expected progeny differences (EPD) and methane emissions. Pulmonary arterial pressure is an indicator of pulmonary arterial hypertension in cattle and is especially relevant at high altitudes, with increasing importance in moderate elevation feedlot and finishing systems. Enteric methane emissions from cattle are increasingly emphasized due to their contribution of greenhouse gases in the agricultural sector. As pulmonary arterial hypertension continues to be an issue in high altitudes and feedlots, understanding relationships with methane emission rates will be useful for both concomitant selection with the goal of improving environmental sustainability. The PAP EPD data were collected on 123 total heifers (n = 37) and steers (n = 86) located on a ranch in southern Wyoming at an elevation of 2,194.56 meters. Gas emissions were collected using a GreenFeed system (C-Lock, Rapid City, South Dakota), which measures the gas fluxes of individual animals at the CSU ARDEC facility at an elevation of 1,557.53 meters. Individual animal methane emissions were measured as grams/day. A generalized linear regression model was used to regress average daily methane emissions (mean = 163.08, SD = 38.74, min = 87.72, max = 247.03) on PAP EPD (mean = -0.464, SD = 1.565, min = -6.382, max = 4.286), pen, and age in days (mean = 258.2, SD = 20.009, min = 200, max = 298). The PAP EPD (P = 0.484) did not account for a significant amount of variation in methane emissions. Additionally, the effect of pen (P < 0.05) and age (P < 0.05) were significant sources of variation for methane production. The effects of pen had a range of 60.916 units of methane emission/day (P < 0.05). Age of the individual was evaluated as a linear covariate and had a solution of 0.678 units of methane emission/day (P < 0.05), suggesting that older individuals had increased methane emissions. These results show no statistical relationship between PAP EPD and methane in these data. While preliminary results suggest that selection for low PAP EPD individuals will have no adverse effects on sustainability metrics, future research is needed to fully understand the relationship between beef cattle production traits and sustainability metrics.