Phenotypic and genetic variability of methane emissions and milk fatty acid contents of Walloon Holstein dairy cows

There is a growing interest in reducing methane (CH4) emissions from enteric fermentation of dairy cows because these emissions contribute to climate change and represent losses of gross energy intake for cows. Milk fatty acid (FA) profile is influenced by rumen fermentations. The aim of this study was to estimate phenotypic and genetic variability of enteric CH4 emissions of dairy cows and FA contents of milk. CH4 emissions (g/d) and milk FA contents are predicted from milk mid-infrared (MIR) spectra based on calibration equations developed by Vanlierde et al. (2013) and Soyeurt et al. (2011), respectively. Data included 161,681 records from 22,642 cows in 489 herds. Genetic parameters of MIR CH4 emissions and 7 groups of FA contents in milk were estimated for Walloon Holstein cows in first parity using bivariate (CH4 emission with a FA trait) random regression test-day models. Saturated FA presented higher genetic correlations with MIR CH4 production than unsaturated FA (0.25 vs. 0.10). Genetic correlations with MIR CH4 emissions were higher for short-(SC) and medium-chain (MC) FA (0.24 and 0.23, respectively) than for long-chain (LC) FA (0.13). Phenotypic correlations between MIR CH4 emissions and SC and MC FA were also higher than those between MIR CH4 emissions and LC FA (0.20 vs. -0.08). Finally, results showed that MIR milk FA profile and MIR CH4 emissions are correlated emphasizing indirect link between milk FA and CH4 emissions through rumen metabolism.