Abstract
The study reviewed carbon footprint (CF) analyses for milk production in Latin America from cradle to farm gate. The objective was to estimate (1) the effect of feeding management (zero-grazing, semi-confinement, and pasture), (2) cattle system (specialized dairy vs. dual-purpose), and (3) region (tropical vs. temperate) on milk production (kg/cow/day) and CF (kg CO2eq/kg fat and protein corrected milk (FPCM)). A systematic literature review was conducted, and for the final analysis, a total of 32 individual CF (from 11 studies) were used. Studies included in the final analysis allowed to calculate CF per kg FPCM, included upstream emissions calculations, and used the IPCC’s tier 2 approach for enteric methane emissions. The range of the CF observed in the region was from 1.54 to 3.57 kg CO2eq/kg FPCM. Feeding management had a significant effect on milk production, but not on CF. Zero-grazing compared with pasture systems had a 140% greater milk production (20.1 vs. 8.4 kg milk/cow/day), but numerically greater CF for pasture systems (2.6 vs. 1.7 kg CO2eq/kg FPCM). Compared with specialized dairy cattle, dual-purpose cattle produced less milk (P < 0.001) and higher CF (P < 0.05). Compared with temperate regions, tropical region systems produced less milk and higher CF. In conclusion, in Latin America, the cattle system and region have a significant impact on CF, whereas the feeding management (zero-grazing, semi-confinement, and pasture) does not impact the CF of milk produced.
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The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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The code is available.
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Yenny Ruiz and Victor Alvarado for their help in the review of literature and classification of studies which reported the carbon footprint.
Funding
This study was funded by Programa Nacional de Investigación Científica y Estudios Avanzados—PROCIENCIA as part of the Proyecto de Mejoramiento y Ampliación de los Servicios del Sistema Nacional de Ciencia Tecnología e Innovación Tecnológica (contract number 016–2019).
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Conceptualization, funding acquisition: CG.
Methodology, formal analysis, and investigation, writing—original draft preparation: CA. Writing—review and editing: JVG and CG.
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Velarde-Guillén, J., Arndt, C. & Gómez, C.A. Carbon footprint in Latin American dairy systems. Trop Anim Health Prod 54, 15 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-021-03021-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-021-03021-6
Keywords
- Carbon footprint
- Latin America
- Dairy cattle
- Dual-purpose cattle
- Tropical
- Temperate
- Milk yield