Enteric methane emissions from beef cattle grazing silvopastoral vs. open-sky pastures in northeastern Argentina

Abstract

Silvopastoral systems are a promising strategy to improve the carbon balance in beef cattle production. These systems integrate forage production with timber trees within the same space and time, promoting ecological complementarity among components. This ongoing study aims to compare enteric methane (CH₄) emissions between two grazing systems: open-sky (OS) and silvopastoral (SP). A long-term experiment was established to characterize CH₄ emissions over three observation periods: August and November 2024, and March 2025.