The Laguna region represents 0.03 % of the Mexican territory and holds 0.2 % of the national milking cow population, with approximately 430,000 heads. Livestock produce methane from two ways. The most important source is enteric fermentation of feed by ruminants, and the second is manure management. Once methane is released to the atmosphere, it is well known to be an important Greenhouse Gas (GHG), 58 times more efficient than carbon dioxide as an Infrared (IR) radiation trap. CH4 emissions from cattle origin in the Laguna region have been estimated using the IPCC model. Fifty five Gg of CH4 are produced per year which represents 2.5 % of national CH4 emissions from livestock origin, a high amount considering the area of the region (0.03 %). For cattle, enteric fermentation is responsible for 83 % of CH4 released in the atmosphere and 17% comes from manure management systems. Among the existing alternatives for mitigating those CH4 emissions, improvements in diet quality toward better utilization of ingested energy, i.e. reduction of energy losses in the form of methane, and utilization of supplements such as sunflower oil or monensin in addition to maize based ration may decrease CH4 emissions up to 20%. However, further investigation is needed to better understand these phenomena and find out cost effective and large scale feasible alternatives.

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