By AFP -Agence France Presse
Scientists search for a miracle pill to stop cows belching methane. By Julie JAMMOT
A scientist inserts a long tube into the mouth and down into the stomach of Thing 1, a two-month-old calf who is part of a research project aimed at stopping cows from belching methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
Paulo de Meo Filho, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of California, Davis, is part of an ambitious experiment that aims to develop a pill to transform cows' intestinal bacteria so that they emit less or no methane.
Although the fossil fuel sector and some natural sources emit methane, cattle farming has become a major climate concern due to the large volume of emissions from cows.
“Almost half of the (global) temperature increase we've had so far is due to methane,” said Ermias Kebreab, professor of animal science at UC Davis.
Methane, the second largest contributor to climate change after carbon dioxide, decomposes more quickly than CO2 but is more potent.
“Methane stays in the atmosphere for about 12 years,” unlike carbon dioxide, which persists for centuries, said Kebreab.
“If you start reducing methane now, we can see the effect on temperature very quickly.”
Son uses the tube to extract rumen fluid from Thing 1, the first compartment of the stomach that contains partially digested food.
Using the rumen fluid samples, the scientists are studying the microbes that convert hydrogen into methane, which is not digested by the cow but expelled into the air.
A single cow will belch out around 100 kilos of the gas a year.
- 'Social animals' -
Thing 1 and other calves receive a diet supplemented with seaweed to reduce methane production.
The scientists hope to achieve similar results by introducing genetically modified microbes that absorb the hydrogen, leaving the methane-producing bacteria at the source.
However, the team is proceeding with caution.
“We can't simply reduce methane production by removing” the methane-producing bacteria, as the hydrogen could build up to the point of harming the animal, warned Matthias Hess, who runs the UC Davis lab.
“Microbes are sort of social creatures. They like living together,” he said.
“The way they interact and affect each other affects the overall function of the ecosystem.”
Hess's students test different formulas in bioreactors, containers that reproduce the living conditions of microorganisms in a stomach, from movement to temperature.
- More productive cows -
The project is being carried out at UC Davis and the Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI) at UC Berkeley.
IGI scientists are trying to identify the right microbe - the one they hope to genetically alter to supplant methane-producing microbes.
The modified microorganisms will then be tested at UC Davis in the laboratory and on animals.
“We're not only trying to reduce methane emissions but also increase food efficiency,” said Kebreab.
“Hydrogen and methane are both energy, so if you reduce that energy and redirect it to something else... you get better productivity and lower emissions at the same time.”
The ultimate goal is a single-dose treatment administered early in life since most cattle graze freely and cannot receive daily supplements.
The three research teams have been given US$70 million and seven years to achieve a breakthrough.
Kebreab has long been studying sustainable livestock farming practices and opposes calls to reduce meat consumption in order to save the planet.
While he recognizes that this can work for healthy adults in developed nations, he pointed to countries like Indonesia, where the government is seeking to increase meat and dairy production because 20% of children under the age of five suffer from stunted growth.
“We can't tell them not to eat meat,” he said.
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