

The NZAGRC is committed to providing information regarding agricultural greenhouse gases research and overview information.
Below are a list of publications and reports from a variety of sources that may be useful if you're interested in agricultural greenhouse gases. They range from information for those who have a general interest in greenhouse gas mitigation options and technologies through to very specific science papers on the various gases, technologies and mitigation solutions.
Use the left navigation for more specific subsets of publications and information.
29/11/19
Dr Graeme Attwood, who is a Principal Investigator in the NZAGRC, completed a PhD in Australia and a post-doc in the USA before coming home to New Zealand to further his career. Graeme completed BSc and MSc degrees at the University of Waikato...
27/11/19
Agriculture has always been part of Dr Robyn Dynes’ daily life. She was born into a Southland farming environment and her parents moved to a sheep and beef property on the rolling hills at Arthurton, running 1500 ewes, beef cattle and slow...
24/07/19
At least 60% of New Zealand's high-producing grasslands - those on less than 20-degree slopes - have some potential to sequester carbon and help in the fight to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere. Dr Mike Beare of Plant & Food...
28/06/19
LEARN Research Aims to Give Farmers Options for GHG Reductions Visiting Brazilian research scientist Dr Adriano Nascente is currently working on a project to help give farmers options for management practices that will reduce nitrous oxide...
09/05/19
Methane Research Adds to Store of Science Knowledge As part of her Masters degree, funded by the NZAGRC, Holly evaluated the effects of dairy breed on methane emissions and what would happen to those emissions if the farmer selected cows for...
02/05/19
Plantain Study Holds Potential for Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Camilla has just finished her PhD project which studied nitrogen compounds and plant metabolites in cow urine and identified those which might minimise nitrous oxide emissions. In...
16/04/19
This information brochure reports on the modelling work done over four years on a range of dairy, sheep and beef farms, as part of a number of projects, including for the NZAGRC. It also discusses forestry as a carbon sink and possible...
28/03/19
This publication provides an overview of how various feeds (e.g. grass silage, brassicas, cereal and root crops, maize silage, palm kernel extract) may affect greenhouse gas emissions. It shows what the NZAGRC and PGgRc research programme has...
18/03/19
Dr Peter Janssen is the Principal Investigator of the NZAGRC-PGgRc methane mitigation programme at AgResearch, and co-ordinates and contributes to the different work streams developing technologies to reduce ruminant methane emissions. He has...
01/03/19
Funding Brings Clarity to Soil Carbon Research NZAGRC funding over the last decade has improved clarity about soil carbon research and provided a structure for building a knowledge base both in New Zealand and the international scientific...
18/02/19
William Targets Career in Scientific Research Support from the NZAGRC is helping William Talbot on his pathway to becoming a research scientist and continuing to help find ways of economically reducing the environmental impacts of farming....
11/02/19
Anne’s Fascination with Science Now Focusses on Nitrous Oxide (N2O) Fascination with the outdoors – a trait instilled by her grandfather – is still with Anne Wecking today, and is still driving her onwards in her work with soil...
29/01/19
Cecile’s Journey from the Sports Field to the Kiwi Farm Paddock Dr Cecile De Klein was captain of the Dutch women’s rugby team in the 1991 Women’s World Cup. Away from the sports field, her career path led her to become an...
22/11/18
An experiment was designed and conducted using a novel 13C stable isotope method to determine how the stabilisation capacity and saturation deficit of different soils affects their ability to store more carbon. Research was also completed...
22/11/18
The dairy part of the programme involves the design of a cohesive and targeted communications and extension programme that provides the dairy industry with the information required to begin addressing its GHG emissions. The programme will build...
22/11/18
The sheep and beef part of the programme is designed to provide new insights into GHG emissions from the sheep and beef sector by assessing the drivers of emissions for at least 100 real sheep and beef farms, representing all 8 B+LNZ farm classes,...
22/11/18
A feasibility study of a novel mechanism for capturing and breaking down methane was completed at the start of 2017/18. The aim of this study was to test the practicality of capturing methane emitted from housed cattle and stored animal waste, and...
22/11/18
Parallel work at a nearby farm calculated carbon balances for three years for a farm with very high feed imports (about 12 tonnes dry matter or 5.3 tonnes of carbon per hectare, per year). The majority of the imported feed was converted back to...
22/11/18
During 2017/18, a sheep vaccination trial, including measurement of methane emissions, was conducted and all vaccinated animals produced antibodies against each of the 19 protein/protein fusions present in the mix of recombinant proteins. This is...
22/11/18
An animal feeding trial conducted in association with the Forages for Reduced Nitrate Leaching programme, investigating the ability of plantain to modify nitrogen processes in animals and soils, was a major focus this year. The aim was to assess...
22/11/18
The CenW model developed for Waikato farms was compared against three years of eddy-covariance data from an irrigated grazed pasture in the Canterbury region. CenW was used to compare three irrigation management scenarios: no irrigation (dairy...
22/11/18
Preliminary analysis showed that there are differences between the lines in fat and lean proportions of carcass. Additional detailed meat quality measures on a subset of ram lambs show that the low methane animals had no difference in...
22/11/18
NZAGRC involvement in the inhibitor programme did not continue in 2017/18. It is now solely funded by the PGgRc as the lead commercialising partner.
22/11/18
An initial study to determine the impact of a novel inhibitor was conducted in 2017/18. After 36 days urine from treated animals had 50% lower nitrous oxide emissions than untreated animals. This work will be expanded in 2018/19.
22/11/18
Analyses of rumen microbial communities in ewe lambs measured multiple times on cut pasture and lucerne pellets suggest that rumen microbial community composition has the potential to be used to rank animals for prediction of methane.
22/11/18
The sheep breeding programme in 2017/2018 continued to build on developments from earlier years. High/low sheep lines continue to diverge and are currently on average 10% different for methane yield. The lines continue to segregate on maternal...
01/11/18
Raised on a beef farm and then a kiwifruit orchard, Sam McNally enjoyed science right from primary school and had a couple of great teachers at Te Puke High School which enhanced his interest in science. “Having grown up on farm/orchard I...
08/07/18
Whitehead, D., Schipper, L.A., Pronger, J., Gabriel, Y.K. Moinet, Mudge, P.L., Pereira, R.C., Kirschbaum, M.U.F., McNally, S.R., Beare, M.H., Camps-Arbestain, M. 2018. Management practices to reduce losses or increase soil carbon stocks in...
06/07/18
Parliament will decide on the pathway for tackling our greenhouse gases (GHGs) after the current consultation on the proposed Zero Carbon Bill. The Bill presents three broad scenarios – net zero carbon dioxide by 2050, which would reduce...
04/07/18
Baldock, J. A., Beare, M. H., Curtin, D., & Hawke, B. (2018). Stocks, composition and vulnerability to loss of soil organic carbon predicted using mid-infrared spectroscopy. Soil Research, 56(5), 468-480. AbstractDeveloping a routine...
02/07/18
McNally, S., Beare, M., Curtin, D., Tregurtha, C., Qiu, W., Kelliher, F., & Baldock, J. (2018). Assessing the vulnerability of organic matter to C mineralisation in pasture and cropping soils of New Zealand. Soil Research, 56(5), 481-490....
21/06/18
Gardiner, C. A., Clough, T. J., Cameron, K. C., Di, H. J., Edwards, G. R., & de Klein, C. A. M. (2018). Assessing the impact of non-urea ruminant urine nitrogen compounds on urine patch nitrous oxide emissions. Journal of Environmental...
14/05/18
What does maths have to do with methane? Quite a lot, it turns out, with a research project combining the disciplines of biology and mathematics—funded by the New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre—set to boost...
10/05/18
Shen, Q., Suarez-Abelenda, M., Camps-Arbestain, M., Calvelo Pereira, R., McNally, S. R., & Kelliher, F. M. (2018). An investigation of organic matter quality and quantity in acid soils as influenced by soil type and land use. Geoderma, 328,...
09/05/18
A Jonker S M Hickey S J Rowe P H Janssen G Shackell S Elmes W E Bain J Wing G J Greer B Bryson S MacLean K G Dodds C S Pinares-Patiño E A Young K Knowler N K Pickering J C McEwan (2018). Genetic parameters of methane emissions determined...
20/03/18
A global scientific project led by New Zealand researchers, which has generated a reference set of genome sequences of microbes found in the stomachs of sheep and cattle, has been published in the respected international scientific journal Nature...
17/01/18
A short time-lapse video of maize growing and the measured cumulative CO2-C exchange from eddy covariance. Down is a loss and up is a gain. There are initial C losses before maize growth is established and then gains as the maize grows. The net C...
15/12/17
Congratulations to Nicolas Puche who has successfully defended his PhD at Massey University. Nicolas came to New Zealand in 2012 on a scholarship funded by the NZAGRC - his doctoral thesis, ‘Detailed temporal modelling of carbon and water...
12/12/17
Gardiner, C. A., Clough, T. J., Cameron, K. C., Di, H. J., Edwards, G. R., & de Klein, C. A. M. (2017). Potential inhibition of urine patch nitrous oxide emissions by Plantago lanceolata and its metabolite aucubin. [Article in Press]. New...
05/12/17
A modeling analysis of carbon and nitrogen (input, cycling and fate) in irrigated grassland in Canterbury showed reductions in soil carbon following irrigation, due to increasing nitrogen limitation. These two co-limiters of growth interact -...
05/12/17
A study has been completed into the potential of using mid-infrared spectroscopy/partial least squares regression (MIR/PLSR) analyses to provide accurate estimates of the content and composition of soil carbon. The MIR/PLSR measurements provided...
05/12/17
Converting a ryegrass/clover grassland to a sward with diverse species resulted in lower carbon losses than when regrassing with ryegrass/clover. Diverse swards also maintained the same level of dry matter production as the new ryegrass/clover...
30/11/17
Livestock has directly caused about a quarter of industrial-age warming. Scientists in New Zealand are working on an anti-burp vaccine for those methane-emitting cows. In a cream-colored metal barn two hours north of Wellington, New Zealand, a...
09/11/17
A major force behind many ground breaking advances in animal genetics is being recognised with a Science NZ Lifetime Achievement award this month. John McEwan, a principal scientist at AgResearch Invermay, has devoted his career to genomic...
01/11/17
The GRA’s Enteric Fermentation Flagship is beginning to take shape with four initial project proposals presented to the Council when it met in August. The Enteric Fermentation Flagship is being set up to support countries account for and...
05/10/17
McNally, S. R., Beare, M. H., Curtin, D., Meenken, E. D., Kelliher, F. M., Calvelo Pereira, R.,Baldock, J. (2017). Soil carbon sequestration potential of permanent pasture and continuous cropping soils in New Zealand. Global Change Biology,...
28/09/17
Efficient farming Can reduce methane a bit But more must be done
28/09/17
Cow fermentation: Methanogens love rumen They make CH4
28/09/17
Paddock N2O Try Quantum Cascade Laser It’s a game changer
22/09/17
The opportunity to work with the Quantum Cascade Laser (QCL) made it an easy decision for German PhD student Anne Wecking to move to the other side of the world. “It’s a privilege to work with a piece of technology like this—the...
21/09/17
A modest-looking metal box sitting in a Waikato paddock may seem unassuming at first glance, but what’s on the inside has the potential to transform the way greenhouse gas emissions are measured. The box contains state-of-the art technology...
13/09/17
Listen to Suzanne Rowe discussing current low methane breeding work at Invermay Listen (external website)
08/09/17
Jonker, A., S. Hickey, C. Pinares-Patiño, J. McEwan, S. Olinga, A. Díaz, G. Molano, S. MacLean, E. Sandoval, R. Harland, D. Birch, B. Bryson, K. Knowler, and S. Rowe. 2017. Sheep from low-methane-yield selection lines created on...
03/09/17
Spikey, a New Zealand innovation that is supported by the NZAGRC and the Global Research Alliance (GRA), has recently been awarded a prestigious environmental sustainability award by the professional body for engineers, IPENZ....
30/08/17
Sheep giving off lower methane emissions are being bred by scientists now looking to see if they can produce leaner meat and more lambs. Methane from livestock is responsible for 33 per cent of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions. As part...
30/08/17
Luo, J., Balvert, S. F., Wise, B., Welten, B., Ledgard, S. F., de Klein, C. A. M, Lindsey, S., Judge, A. (2018). Using alternative forage species to reduce emissions of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide from cattle urine deposited onto soil....
24/08/17
As a climate scientist, I strongly rebut Tuesday's opinion piece by Robin Grieve who claimed he was relating facts from the Motu Research report, Cows, Sheep and Science: A Scientific Perspective on Biological Emissions from Agriculture, that I...
01/08/17
There is good evidence that biochar (organic matter carbonised under controlled conditions) represents a very stable form of carbon, so it could be used to store more carbon in soils. Research has indicated that specific biochars could also help...
31/07/17
Methanogens belong to a group of ancient microbes known as archaea. They have evolved hundreds of millions of years ago and occupy oxygen-free niches such as peat bogs and anaerobic gut systems. In the rumen, methanogens modify the fermentation...
31/07/17
The rumen: One of the most efficient fibre decomposing systems The rumen first evolved 50 million years ago, giving mammals access to plant foods they would other not be able to digest. The rumen is the first and largest part of the...
28/07/17
This publication provides an overview of how we may be able to use compounds that suppress an animal's methanogen population effectively without causing unwanted side effects in their health, welfare or production. It covers some of the...
25/07/17
This is the full public annual report for 2015/16. NZAGRC 2016 Annual Report.pdf (1.64MB)
26/06/17
T.J. van der Weerden, S. Laurenson, I. Vogeler, P.C. Beukes, S.M. Thomas, R.M. Rees, C.F.E. Topp, G. Lanigan, C.A.M. de Klein, Mitigating nitrous oxide and manure-derived methane emissions by removing cows in response to wet soil conditions,...
14/06/17
Louis Schipper talks to Bryan Crump on RNZ Nights about soil carbon. He talks about soil organic matter, soil density, nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, sulphur), land use and the ways we can store more carbon in soil to reduce the amount of carbon...
31/05/17
Reisinger, A., Ledgard, S.F., Falconer, S.J. 2017. Sensitivity of the carbon footprint of New Zealand milk to greenhouse gasmetrics. Ecological Indicators 81, 74–82. Highlights The carbon footprint of milk depends on the choice...
25/05/17
Giltrap, D., S. Saggar, et al. (2017). "Modelling NH3 volatilisation within a urine patch using NZ-DNDC." Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems 108(3): 267-277. Abstract Urea concentrations in urine patches deposited during animal grazing can be...
19/05/17
Weimar, M. R., Cheung, J., Dey, D., McSweeney, C., Morrison, M., Kobayashi, Y., . . . Cook, G. M. (2017). Development of Multiwell-Plate Methods Using Pure Cultures of Methanogens To Identify New Inhibitors for Suppressing Ruminant Methane...
19/05/17
Anthony J. Parsons, John H. M. Thornley, Susanne Rasmussen and Jacqueline S. Rowarth, 2016, Some clarification of the impacts of grassland intensification on food production, nitrogen release, greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sequestration:...
17/05/17
The Livestock Research Group of the Global Research Alliance is documenting countries’ successes in reducing on-farm emissions intensity of livestock production at the same time as addressing other concerns related to increasing...
16/05/17
Cecile is an internationally recognised expert on nitrous oxide emissions from soils. Born and educated in The Netherlands, she came to New Zealand in 1995 following a postdoc in Cambridge, UK. As Principal Investigator of the NZAGRC she co-leads,...
11/05/17
At the recent NZ agricultural greenhous gas mitigation conference, Dr Cecile de Klein presented an overview of the latest progress with nitrous oxide technology developments. Read more about her presentation
05/04/17
Sam McIvor, CEO of Beef + Lamb NZ recently presented at the NZ agricultural greenhouse gas mitigation conference. Read more
03/04/17
Francesca Eggleton, Fonterra's Manager, Group Environment recently presented at the New Zealand agricultural greenhouse gas mitigation conference. Read more
03/04/17
Louis Schipper is a Professor at the University of Waikato who investigates soil biogeochemical processes at landscape scales and how they might be manipulated to achieve improved environmental performance while maintaining production. For the...
29/03/17
More farmers are aware of the impact of livestock on global warming, says an agricultural greenhouse research expert. New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre director Dr Harry Clark said farmer awareness of their...
29/03/17
This publication is a guide to New Zealand's way of funding greenhouse gas research in New Zealand including ways the funds work in partnership to grow New Zealand's understanding and contribution to real solutions to tackle climate change.
24/02/17
Jonker Arjan, Scobie David, Dynes Robyn, Edwards Grant, De Klein Cecile, Hague Helen, McAuliffe Russel, Taylor Anna, Knight Trevor, Waghorn Garry (2017) Feeding diets with fodder beet decreased methane emissions from dry and lactating dairy cows...
06/02/17
S. Rutledge, A.M. Wall, P.L. Mudge, B. Troughton, D.I. Campbell, J. Pronger, C. Joshi, L.A. Schipper, The carbon balance of temperate grasslands part I: The impact of increased species diversity, Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, Volume...
05/02/17
Schipper, L. A., P. L. Mudge, et al. (2017). "A review of soil carbon change in New Zealand’s grazed grasslands." New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research 60(2): 93-118. AbstractSoil organic matter is a potential sink of atmospheric...
23/01/17
S. Rutledge, A.M. Wall, P.L. Mudge, B. Troughton, D.I. Campbell, J. Pronger, C. Joshi, L.A. Schipper, The carbon balance of temperate grasslands part II: The impact of pasture renewal via direct drilling, Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment,...
11/01/17
van der Weerden, T. J., T. M. Styles, et al. (2017). "Nitrous oxide emissions from cattle urine deposited onto soil supporting a winter forage kale crop." New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research 60(2): 119-130. AbstractWintering cows on...
01/01/17
Li, Y. (2016). Comparative genomics of rumen methanogens, Massey University. Doctor of Philosophy in Biochemistry: 550. Abstract Methane (CH4) emissions from agriculture represent around 9% of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. The...
22/12/16
The study site is the Massey University Tuapaka hill country farm. This 470-ha farm, 15 km NW of Palmerston North, consists of two distinctive management blocks – the terrace flats and the hill block. A legacy soil map was digitised and...
14/12/16
Xiang, R., J. McNally, et al. (2016). "Gene network analysis identifies rumen epithelial cell proliferation, differentiation and metabolic pathways perturbed by diet and correlated with methane production." 6: 39022. Abstract Ruminants obtain...
05/12/16
This publication provides an overview of how we can map the amount of carbon stored in New Zealand soils.
15/11/16
Report prepared for the New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre August 2015 Read more
08/11/16
NOT LONGER AVAILABLE PhD in Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Grazed Pastures University of Waikato, New Zealand We have an opening for a PhD candidate to make measurements of nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide fluxes from grazed pastures...
19/10/16
Wednesday, 19 October 2016 The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment’s report into greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture highlights the need for a suite of mitigation solutions rather than a single silver bullet....
15/10/16
Kirschbaum, M. U. F., L. A. Schipper, et al. (2017). "The trade-offs between milk production and soil organic carbon storage in dairy systems under different management and environmental factors." Science of the Total Environment 577: 61-72....
06/09/16
Li, Y., Leahy, S. C., Jeyanathan, J., Henderson, G., Cox, F., Altermann, E., . . . Attwood, G. T. (2016). The complete genome sequence of the methanogenic archaeon ISO4-H5 provides insights into the methylotrophic lifestyle of a ruminal...
01/09/16
The NZAGRC team are working with two B+LNZ monitor farms. The farms now have substantial, robust data and baseline farm systems models which demonstrate the extent to which the key management decisions and efficiency drivers impact on current...
01/09/16
Other methane measurement techniques provide estimates of emissions from individual animals. This raises the question whether the animals that have been measured are representative of average emissions coming from an entire herd over long...
31/08/16
During 2015/16, the dairy component of the programme has continued progress towards understanding potential for practical mitigation options to result in lower GHG footprints for dairy farming. Methane and nitrous oxide measurements on dairy...
31/08/16
Nitrification inhibitors slow the conversion of ammonium (NH4+), deposited into the soil in the form of urine, to nitrate (NO3), which leaches into waterways. Nitrous oxide (N2O) is released into the atmosphere as part of this process. DCD...
31/08/16
HOW THEY WORKCommonly, these are a sheepsized transparent polycarbonate box suspended above a race. When a sheep walks into the race, the chamber is lowered over it and the sheep is held inside for about 30 minutes. Air samples are taken during...
31/08/16
How they work Respiration chambers are animal-friendly closed circuit containers in which animals are contained while their gas output is measured. The New Zealand Animal Ruminant Methane Measurement Centre at AgResearch, part-funded by the...
31/08/16
How they work This technique was devised to answer the question ‘How much methane does an animal grazing freely in a field produce over a given period (usually one 24-hour feeding cycle)?’ Sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) is an inert gas...
31/08/16
Options to further enhance production efficiency New Zealand already operates a highly efficient and productive pastoral system. Over the past 20 years, farmers have steadily improved feed and nutrition, animal genetics, pasture management, and...
31/08/16
Agriculture produces greenhouse gas emissions in a number of ways: direct emissions by livestock, emissions from the production of livestock feed, energy use in fertiliser manufacture, farm operations such as milking, refrigeration and housing,...
01/08/16
In New Zealand, In New Zealand, farmers can get a farm-level estimate of their greenhouse gas emissions (methane and nitrous oxide, and in some cases also energy use) using commercially available calculators, such as OVERSEER. These...
01/08/16
J. Pronger, D.I. Campbell, M.J. Clearwater, S. Rutledge, A.M. Wall, L.A. Schipper, Low spatial and inter-annual variability of evaporation from a year-round intensively grazed temperate pasture system, Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment,...
01/08/16
The most well-known calculator for estimating GHG emissions in farm is using is the nutrient budgeting tool OVERSEER®. This uses nitrogen inputs and outputs, as well as the number and productivity of animals, to calculate the unique nutrient...
29/07/16
Subharat S, Shu D, Zheng T, Buddle BM, Kaneko K, et al. (2016) Vaccination of Sheep with a Methanogen Protein Provides Insight into Levels of Antibody in Saliva Needed to Target Ruminal Methanogens. PLOS ONE 11(7):...
20/07/16
Schon, N. L., A. D. Mackay, et al. (2016). "Establishment of Aporrectodea longa and measurement of dung carbon incorporation in soils under permanent pasture." European Journal of Soil Biology 75: 174-179. Earthworm populations often have a large...
14/07/16
Jonker, A., K. Lowe, S. Kittelmann, P. H. Janssen, S. Ledgard, and D. Pacheco. 2016. Methane emissions changed nonlinearly with graded substitution of alfalfa silage with corn silage and corn grain in the diet of sheep and relation with rumen...
01/07/16
Brassicas (represented mainly by forage rape, kale, swede and turnip) and fodder beet are widely used in New Zealand grazing systems due to their high DM yield and high nutritional value compared to conventional perennial ryegrass/white clover...
01/07/16
Gardiner, C. A., T. J. Clough, et al. (2016). "Potential for forage diet manipulation in New Zealand pasture ecosystems to mitigate ruminant urine derived N2O emissions: a review." New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research 59(3): 301-317....
28/06/16
This report reviews the potential to use full inversion tillage (FIT) during pasture renewal to increase the soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks of New Zealand’s High Producing Grasslands. December 2015 Download this...
21/05/16
Di, H. J., Cameron, K. C., Podolyan, A., Edwards, G. R., de Klein, C. A. M., Dynes, R., & Woods, R. (2016). The potential of using alternative pastures, forage crops and gibberellic acid to mitigate nitrous oxide emissions. [Article]. Journal...
12/05/16
C.J. Hoogendoorn, J. Luo, C.M. Lloyd-West, B.P. Devantier, S.B. Lindsey, S. Sun, D. Pacheco, Y. Li, P.W. Theobald, A. Judge, Nitrous oxide emission factors for urine from sheep and cattle fed forage rape ( L.) or perennial ryegrass/white clover...
10/05/16
Gardiner, C. A., T. J. Clough, et al. (2016). "Potential for forage diet manipulation in New Zealand pasture ecosystems to mitigate ruminant urine derived N2O emissions: a review." New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research 59(3): 301-317....
07/04/16
Kelly WJ, Li D, Lambie SC, Jeyanathan J, Cox F, Li Y, Attwood GT, Altermann E, Leahy SC. 2016. Complete genome sequence of methanogenic archaeon ISO4-G1, a member of the Methanomassiliicoccales, isolated from a sheep rumen. Genome Announc...
07/04/16
Kelly WJ, Li D, Lambie SC, Cox F, Attwood GT, Altermann E, Leahy SC. 2016. Draft genome sequence of the rumen methanogen Methanobrevibacter olleyae YLM1. Genome Announc 4(2):e00232-16. doi:10.1128/genomeA.00232-16. Methanobrevibacter...
24/03/16
Camilla Gardiner moved to Canterbury from the USA at the end of July 2015. Originally from Seattle, Camilla has had a passion for agriculture since high school. "I spent a term at a farm school in rural Vermont in my third year of high...
24/03/16
Providing funding to students and early career scientists to increase capability in the agricultural greenhouse gas emissions mitigation research area and boost international collaboration is a key activity for the NZAGRC. The NZAGRC nitrous...
21/03/16
Pastoral Robotics Ltd, founded by Aucklanders Geoff Bates and Bert Quin, has received a grant from the New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Council (NZAGRC) to help optimisation and on-farm testing of its full-size ‘Spikey’...
15/03/16
Kelly, W. J., G. Henderson, et al. (2016). "The complete genome sequence of Eubacterium limosum SA11, a metabolically versatile rumen acetogen." Standards in Genomic Sciences 11(1): 26. Acetogens are a specialized group of anaerobic bacteria able...
15/02/16
Sparling, G. P., E. J. Chibnall, et al. (2016). "Estimates of annual leaching losses of dissolved organic carbon from pastures on Allophanic Soils grazed by dairy cattle, Waikato, New Zealand." New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research 59(1):...
09/02/16
Sun Xuezhao, Pacheco David, Luo Dongwen (2016) Forage brassica: a feed to mitigate enteric methane emissions?. Animal Production Science 56, 451-456. A series of experiments was conducted in New Zealand to evaluate the potential of...
15/01/16
Yuancheng Wang, Peter H. Janssen, Tammy A. Lynch, Bruce van Brunt, David Pacheco, A mechanistic model of hydrogen–methanogen dynamics in the rumen, Journal of Theoretical Biology, Volume 393, 21 March 2016, Pages 75-81, ISSN 0022-5193...
24/11/15
University of Waikato technician, and a pivotal player in the NZAGRC-funded soil carbon programme, Aaron Wall was a winner in last month’s 2015 KuDos Hamilton Science Excellence Awards. The School of Science Technical Officer...
24/11/15
"Humbled and surprised” is how AgResearch Senior Scientist and NZAGRC Project Leader Dr Jiafa Luo describes his reaction to hearing his name read out as the winner of the Gallagher Agricultural Science Award at this year’s...
18/11/15
This publication summaries the NZAGRC annual report 2014/15. More information
18/11/15
This publication provides an overview of the impact of gibberellins on grazed grasslands and the potential for gibberellins to mitigate farm nitrous oxide emissions.
03/11/15
Liu, Q., C. S. Jones, et al. (2015). "Does gibberellin biosynthesis play a critical role in the growth of Lolium perenne? Evidence from a transcriptional analysis of gibberellin and carbohydrate metabolic genes after defoliation." Frontiers in...
12/10/15
The New Zealand-led “Global Rumen Census” project analysed the microbes responsible for ethane emissions from a wide range of ruminant animals around the world. The project found imilar bacteria and methanogens dominate in nearly all...
12/10/15
There are two PhD studentships available that will contribute to a wider programme of research funded by the Global Partnership for Livestock Emission Research entitled: MANAGEMENT OPTIONS FOR INCREASING SOIL CARBON UNDER GRASSLANDS. The PhD...
15/09/15
Dr Suzanne Rowe, co-leader of the NZAGRC-PGgRc programme to breed low methane ruminants, has always been passionate about farming. Originally from Devon, in the UK, she grew up in the city and left home at 16 to work on a horse breeding stud....
15/09/15
This publication provides an overview of how the NZAGRC is working with other organisations to understand what efficiencies can be gained on New Zealand's sheep and beef farms.
15/09/15
Scientific knowledge is usually communicated through text, diagrams and graphs, but the Waikato Biogeochemistry and Ecohydrology Research group (WaiBER) offers an alternative means of communication - via the medium of cake. Once a paper...
14/08/15
Kittelmann, S., M. R. Kirk, et al. (2015). "Buccal Swabbing as a Noninvasive Method To Determine Bacterial, Archaeal, and Eukaryotic Microbial Community Structures in the Rumen." Applied and Environmental Microbiology 81(21): 7470-7483. Analysis...
24/07/15
Pablo Gregorini, Pierre Beukes, Garry Waghorn, David Pacheco, Mark Hanigan, Development of an improved representation of rumen digesta outflow in a mechanistic and dynamic model of a dairy cow, Molly, Ecological Modelling, Volume 313, 2015, Pages...
26/06/15
Vetharaniam, I., R. E. Vibart, et al. (2015). "A modified version of the Molly rumen model to quantify methane emissions from sheep1." Journal of Animal Science 93(7): 3551-3563. We modified the rumen submodel of the Molly dairy cow model to...
10/06/15
This publication provides an overview of what soil carbon is, how we can measure and determine the changes over time and what New Zealand's current soil carbon levels are. this publication was produced in collaboration with the University of...
01/06/15
Bowatte, S., Newton, P. C. D., Hoogendoorn, C. J., Hume, D. E., Stewart, A. V., Brock, S. C. and Theobald, P. W. (2016), Wide variation in nitrification activity in soil associated with different forage plant cultivars and genotypes. Grass Forage...
07/05/15
Rick provided the conference delegates with an overview of the New Zealand investment landscape for reducing agricultural greenhouse gases. He highlighted that New Zealand is putting in a great deal of effort into reducing agricultural greenhouse...
07/05/15
Peter gave an interesting overview of how ruminants produce methane and the strategies that are being investigated for reducing, or even eliminating, this methane. Feeds which lead to reduced methane production have been studied and the...
07/05/15
John provided further detail about the low methane emitting sheep breeding programme. There is excellent rationale for this strategy given that for most farmed species (plants and animals) genetics contributes around 50% of the farm system...
07/05/15
Tim presented an international perspective on the methane research being conducted globally. There is research being conducted to investigate both: (i) technologies to reduce emissions and ii) ways to increase efficiency across the...
07/05/15
Cecile provided an overview of the nitrous oxide research being conducted in New Zealand, with a focus on plant and animal interventions. Cecile reminded the audience that animal urine is by far the largest source of nitrogen in the New...
07/05/15
Frank's presentation covered the New Zealand work on soil carbon. He explained the concept that, like planting trees, increasing soil carbon stocks can “offset” greenhouse gas emissions and that if New Zealand could...
07/05/15
Keith provided an international perspective on nitrous oxide and soil carbon research. With respect to N2O, he highlighted work on investigating the genes related to nitrous oxide emissions and noted that there is one clear...
07/05/15
Following on from earlier conclusions that we shouldn't look at different aspects of a system in isolation, Robyn outlined her team's plans for studying the "business unit of New Zealand farming" - the whole farm. The...
28/04/15
This publication provides an overview of the particular measurement techniques used to provide us with more information on New Zealand's GHG emissions. For latest New Zealand's Greenhouse Gas Inventory data 1990-2016, go...
28/04/15
This publication provides an overview of the GHG mitigation work been undertaken in New Zealand.
01/04/15
David Whitehead, Grant R. Edwards, Assessment of the application of gibberellins to increase productivity and reduce nitrous oxide emissions in grazed grassland, Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, Volume 207, 1 September 2015, Pages 40-50,...
25/03/15
Emissions of nitrous oxide from grassland systems are attributable largely to the use of nitrogen fertilisers and the excreta deposited by grazing animals. There is increasing interest in using gibberellins as a naturally-occurring growth...
22/03/15
S. Rutledge, P.L. Mudge, D.I. Campbell, S.L. Woodward, J.P. Goodrich, A.M. Wall, M.U.F. Kirschbaum, L.A. Schipper, Carbon balance of an intensively grazed temperate dairy pasture over four years, Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, Volume...
12/03/15
The NZAGRC would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Dr Neha Jha on recently completing her PhD and thank her for her contribution to date to the NZAGRC's nitrous oxide research programme. Neha's PhD study involved steep learning...
12/03/15
Increasing the quantity and stability of carbon stored in agricultural soils has real potential to offset greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to the atmosphere. However, realising this potential is not as straightforward as it might first appear....
12/03/15
It's been said that in order to see the whole picture, you need to step out of the frame. That's the approach that the Principal Investigators of the NZAGRC nitrous oxide (N2O) programme and their team took whilst planning the work out...
12/03/15
A core part of the NZAGRC's research programme is to develop new tools, technologies and practices to mitigate agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, there are a number of steps that farmers can take right now to reduce their...
08/01/15
Sergio E. Morales, Neha Jha, Surinder Saggar, Biogeography and biophysicochemical traits link NO emissions, NO emission potential and microbial communities across New Zealand pasture soils, Soil Biology and Biochemistry, Volume 82, 2015, Pages...
13/11/14
Animal variation project provides wealth of... (0.66MB)
13/11/14
From tiny bottles to grazing sheep and cows (0.90MB)
13/11/14
News release from DOE JGI, 17 June 2014 excerpt "...not all ruminants are equal when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions. It turns out that the amount of methane produced varies substantially across individual animals of the...
13/11/14
Technology transfer (0.59MB)
24/10/14
What's really in a rumen? It's probably something that most people haven't given much thought to. However, in the search for methods and technologies to mitigate methane produced from ruminant animals, this is a key question. The...
24/10/14
Could forage rape, a brassica crop, hold the key to understanding what and how to feed animals to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions? A wide search has been carried out to date for animal feeds that reduce GHGs. For a long...
24/10/14
Could plants be used to reduce nitrification rates in soils and hence reduce nitrate leaching and emissions of nitrous oxide? Results of screening experiments conducted by Dr Saman Bowatte and his team at AgResearch Grasslands campus in...
20/08/14
Much effort and intellectual grunt is going into solving the livestock methane emissions problem. Peter Burke reports on this science challenge facing New Zealand. A TINY micro-organism one thousandth of a millimetre long is proving a huge...
14/08/14
Reducing New Zealand's agricultural greenhouse gas emissions without sacrificing production gains is what we are working to achieve through the NZAGRC-PGgRc science programme. Find out more about New Zealand's agricultural GHG...
15/07/14
Pacheco, D., G. Waghorn, et al. (2014). "Decreasing methane emissions from ruminants grazing forages: a fit with productive and financial realities?" Animal Production Science 54(9): 1141-1154. Ruminants contribute to human food supply and also...
11/07/14
Bowatte, S., P. C. D. Newton, et al. (2015). "Bacteria on leaves: a previously unrecognised source of N2O in grazed pastures." ISME J 9(1): 265-267. Abstract Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from grazed pastures are a product of microbial...
06/06/14
Shi, W., C. Moon, et al. (2014). "Methane yield phenotypes linked to differential gene expression in the sheep rumen microbiome." Genome Research. AbstractRuminant livestock represent the single largest anthropogenic source of the potent...
24/04/14
K.J. Hammond, D. Pacheco, J.L. Burke, J.P. Koolaard, S. Muetzel, G.C. Waghorn, The effects of fresh forages and feed intake level on digesta kinetics and enteric methane emissions from sheep, Animal Feed Science and Technology, Volume 193, 2014,...
06/06/13
Pinares-Patiño, C. S., Hickey, S. M., Young, E. A., Dodds, K. G., MacLean, S., Molano, G., Sandoval, E., Kjestrup, H., Harland, R., Hunt, C., Pickering, N. K. and McEwan, J. C. (2013) “Heritability estimates of methane emissions from...
22/01/13
Overseas technicians train on methane measurement | Radio New Zealand News Scientists from developing countries are in Palmerston North for a training course on measuring methane emissions from forage-fed farm animals. Nine...
26/11/12
Agriculture emits a range of greenhouse gases. Evaluating the effectiveness of mitigation strategies requires a way to compare the contribution of individual gases to overall emissions. This is usually done by converting emissions of methane and...
26/11/12
Climate change presents multiple challenges to New Zealand. Some are direct - such as climatic impacts on domestic agricultural production, or domestic climate policies - but further, indirect impacts could come from overseas, via trade, such as...
26/11/12
There is robust scientific evidence that the climate is changing, and that most of the warming observed over the past 50 years is due to increasing greenhouse gas concentrations from human activities. This fact sheet summarises why, and how,...
01/08/12
Release Newsletter - August 2012 Release007_page4 (2.11MB)
01/08/12
Release Newsletter - August 2012 Release007_page8 (1.04MB)
01/08/12
Release Newsletter - August 2012 Release007_page5 (0.59MB)
01/08/12
Release Newsletter - August 2012 Release007_page7 (0.95MB)
01/08/12
Release Newsletter - August 2012 Release007_page6 (1.46MB)
01/07/12
Chiba, M.K., Cichota, R., Vogeler, I. (2012). Can we improve interpolation of N2O emission measurements by using environmental factors? In: Advanced Nutrient Management: Gains from the Past - Goals for the Future. (Eds L.D. Currie and C L....
01/07/12
Jha, N., Saggar, S., Tillman, R., & Giltrap, D. (2012). Changes in denitrification rate and N2O/N2 ratio with varying soil moisture conditions in New Zealand pasture soils In: Advanced Nutrient Management: Gains from the Past - Goals for...
12/05/12
Vogeler, I., Beukes, P., Romera, A. & Cichota, R. (2012). Estimating nitrous oxide emissions from a diary farm using a mechanistic, whole farm model and segregated emission factors for New Zealand. Soil Research 50 (3) 188-194 Abstract...
24/04/12
Technical Manual on Respiration Chamber Designs Released: March 2012 Edited by: Cesar Pinares & Garry Waghorn Download here
28/03/12
van der Weerden, T. J., F. M. Kelliher, et al. (2012). "Influence of pore size distribution and soil water content on nitrous oxide emissions." Soil Research 50(2): 125-135. Abstract Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from agricultural soils have been...
08/03/12
Ball, B.C., Cameron, K.C., Di, H.J. and Moore, S. (2012). Effects of trampling of a wet dairy pasture soil on soil porosity and on mitigation of nitrous oxide emissions by a nitrification inhibitor, dicyandiamide. Soil Use and Management....
01/03/12
Morgavi, D., Kelly, W., Janssen, P., & Attwood, G. (2013). Rumen microbial (meta)genomics and its application to ruminant production. Animal, 7(S1), 184-201 Abstract Meat and milk produced by ruminants are important agricultural...
01/02/12
Release Newsletter - February 2012 Manipulating Nitrous Oxide producing processes (0.44MB)
15/12/11
Kelliher, F. M., Condron, L. M., Cook, F. J., & Black, A. (2012). Sixty years of seasonal irrigation affects carbon storage in soils beneath pasture grazed by sheep. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 148, 29-36 Abstract For sixty...
01/08/11
Release Newsletter - August 2011 New Centre at Lincoln University (1.24MB)
23/05/11
G.T. Attwood, E. Altermann, W.J. Kelly, S.C. Leahy, L. Zhang, M. Morrison, Exploring rumen methanogen genomes to identify targets for methane mitigation strategies, Animal Feed Science and Technology, Volume 166, 2011, Pages 65-75, ISSN...
31/12/10
Download this report (8.81MB) 2010 science publications Kelliher, F. M., & Clark, H. (2010). Methane emissions from bison-An historic herd estimate for the North American Great Plains. Agricultural and Forest...
01/12/10
Release Newsletter - December 2010 Nitrification Inhibitors (0.83MB)
30/07/10
Reisinger, A., M. Meinshausen, M. Manning, and G. Bodeker (2010), Uncertainties of global warming metrics: CO2 and CH4, Geophys. Res. Lett., 37, L14707, doi:10.1029/2010GL043803. We present a comprehensive...
26/03/10
Bryce M. Buddle, Michel Denis, Graeme T. Attwood, Eric Altermann, Peter H. Janssen, Ron S. Ronimus, Cesar S. Pinares-Patiño, Stefan Muetzel, D. Neil Wedlock, Strategies to reduce methane emissions from farmed ruminants grazing on pasture,...
29/12/09
Kelliher, F. M., & Clark, H. (2010). Methane emissions from bison-An historic herd estimate for the North American Great Plains. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 150(3), 473-477. AbstractEnteric methane (CH4) emissions were estimated from...