Early-Life Respiratory Emissions and concentrations of CO₂, CH₄, and N₂O in pre-weaned Dairy-bred Calves

This dataset supports the publication “Early-Life Respiratory Emissions of CO₂, CH₄, and N₂O in Pre-weaned Dairy-bred Calves” (Langford et al., 2026 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/sae2.70141 ), which investigates greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from calves during the transition from a milk-based diet to solid feed. The data were collected to quantify age-related changes in respiratory emission rates of carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), and nitrous oxide (N₂O), and to explore breed-level differences. The dataset includes 383 breath samples from 65 calves aged 12 to 86 days, comprising Hereford-cross, Aberdeen Angus-cross, and British Blue-cross breeds. Each record contains: Animal metadata: ID, breed, sex, age, interpolated weight Physiological measurements: respiration rate (breaths per minute) GHG metrics: emission rates and breath concentrations of CO₂ (g animal⁻¹ h⁻¹, ppm), CH₄ (mg animal⁻¹ h⁻¹, ppm), CH₄ (with and without eructation events removed) (mg animal⁻¹ h⁻¹, ppm), and N₂O (μg animal⁻¹ h⁻¹, ppb) Measurements were obtained using a custom-built respiratory mask and high-resolution gas analysers. Emission rates were calculated from breath concentrations, respiration rate, and estimated tidal volume based on body weight. Full methodological details, statistical analyses, and interpretation are provided in the associated publication. The data are provided in tabular format with clearly defined units and column headers. These data may be useful for researchers studying livestock emissions, rumen development, microbial colonisation, or evaluating mitigation strategies for GHG emissions in early-life cattle.本数据集支撑论文《断奶前乳用培育犊牛的早期呼吸道CO₂、CH₄及N₂O排放》（Langford等人，2026，DOI: 10.1002/sae2.70141）的发表，该研究聚焦断奶前乳用培育犊牛从乳基日粮向固体饲料过渡阶段的温室气体（GHG）排放情况。本数据旨在量化二氧化碳（CO₂）、甲烷（CH₄）与一氧化二氮（N₂O）的呼吸道排放速率随日龄的变化，并探索品种层面的差异。 本数据集包含来自65头12至86日龄犊牛的383份呼吸样本，涉及赫里福德杂交（Hereford-cross）、阿伯丁安格斯杂交（Aberdeen Angus-cross）以及英国蓝牛杂交（British Blue-cross）三个品种。每条记录包含以下内容： 1. 动物元数据：个体编号、品种、性别、日龄、插值体重 2. 生理测量指标：呼吸频率（次/分钟） 3. 温室气体指标：CO₂（单位：g·动物⁻¹·h⁻¹、ppm）、CH₄（单位：mg·动物⁻¹·h⁻¹、ppm）的排放速率与呼吸浓度；已剔除嗳气事件与未剔除嗳气事件的CH₄（单位：mg·动物⁻¹·h⁻¹、ppm）；以及N₂O（单位：μg·动物⁻¹·h⁻¹、ppb）的排放速率与呼吸浓度。 本研究采用定制呼吸面罩与高分辨率气体分析仪获取测量数据。排放速率通过呼吸浓度、呼吸频率以及基于体重估算的潮气量计算得到。完整的方法学细节、统计分析与解读内容详见关联发表论文。 本数据集以表格格式提供，单位与列标题均已明确界定。该数据集可服务于研究家畜排放、瘤胃发育、微生物定植，或评估幼龄肉牛温室气体排放缓解策略的科研人员。