Trends in milk yield productivity and emissions from the dairy sector in Latvia
¹Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies, Faculty of Information Technologies, Department of Control Systems, Liela street 2, LV–3001 Jelgava, Latvia
²Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies, Faculty of Agriculture, Institute of Animal Sciences, Liela street 2, LV–3001 Jelgava, Latvia
³Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies, Faculty of Environment and Civil Engineering, Department of Environment and Water Management, Akademijas street 19, LV–3001 Jelgava, Latvia
*Correspondence: laima.berzina@llu.lv
Abstract:
Dairy cow productivity continuously increased in Latvia in recent years. Despite decreasing numbers of dairy cow population dairy farms have been identified as an important source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Dairy sector emissions create the largest share of enteric fermentation emissions as well as emissions from manure in housing facilities, during long-term storage and field application within agriculture sector total emissions. The main objective of this study is to present the results of trend analysis in the productivity of the dairy sector and corresponding emission in Latvia. Research is focused on analysis of dairy cow productivity and feeding strategies to quantify the effect of increasing milk yield on GHG emissions. In the framework of this research, emissions were calculated and evaluated for low and high productivity dairy cows according to the methodology of ‘2019 Refinement to the 2006 Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories’. During the last decade dairy cow productivity in Latvia has increased and the average milk yield in standard lactation was 8,320 kg per year in 2021. It was observed that 60% of the total number of dairy cows met the requirements of a high-productivity system, while 40% of the dairy cows belonged to low-productivity systems in Latvia. Research results show that total GHG emissions for high-productivity system can reach 5.3 kt CO2 eq. per 1,000 cows per year, however, for low-productivity system the total amount of emissions does not exceed 3.1 kt CO2 eq. per 1,000 cows.
Key words:
climate, dairy, emissions., greenhouse gas, productivity