How cattle could retain their greenhouse gasses
Ashley Sweeting
Making the Complex Accessible - Sustainability | Social Impact | Innovation | MBA - Journalist
Livestock methane emissions have grown to be one of the most contentious issues of the global food systems. A global team of researchers are looking at using the same genomics technology that has transformed cancer treatments over recent years to address the livestock methane issue from the source, rather than just looking at how to plug the leak.
Methane contains energy. Under the desired conditions this is retained in the animal to be used for growth and productivity, rather than being emitted into the atmosphere
Where does livestock methane come from:
Over millions of years cattle and the microbes in their stomach have developed a symbiotic relationship, rumen fermentation, that enables cattle to digest grass. It’s these microbes that hold the key to how much methane is produced.
Rumen fermentation produces both desirable and wasteful metabolites. Methane production is the final stage of dealing with some of these waste products.
The production of livestock methane is complex and involves many metabolic processes. This provides numerous opportunities for altering the outcome.
What we currently know about methane production
Producing methane is one of the ways that the microbes deal with free hydrogen in the rumen. There are many microbes and metabolic steps involved in this process, each of which can be progress in a different direction under different conditions. This process is not currently well understood.
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What can we learn from nature
Not all animals with similar digestive systems produce methane. Cattle and kangaroos have very similar digestive systems, and both eat grass. However, kangaroos don’t produce methane. Additionally in some species, such as us humans, about 66% of us don’t produce methane while the remaining 33% do produce methane.
Win-win for farmers and the climate
For a climate solution to be effective it must benefit everyone involved in the implementation. Capturing the methane energy in the animals improves farm productivity for farmers as well as decreasing the climate impacts. This win-win is essential to overcome the barriers of farmer adoption.
Research team
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Queen's University Belfast, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, University of California, Davis, AgResearch, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, University of Alberta, Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (Queensland), Norges miljø- og biovitenskaplige universitet, ProAgni
More information on livestock methane production