Methane from enteric fermentation in the ruminant digestive system is a major contributor to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions in the United States and worldwide. Methane is also a net loss of feed energy to the animal. This study was undertaken to investigate the effect of a methane inhibitor on enteric methane emissions from lactating dairy cows. The experiment demonstrated that, under industry-relevant conditions, the inhibitor persistently decreased by 30% enteric methane emissions, without negatively affecting animal productivity. The spared methane energy was partially used for tissue synthesis, which led to a greater body weight gain by the inhibitor-treated cows. If adopted, this mitigation practice could lead to a substantial reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from the ruminant livestock sector.
Original Source [2]
Technology Partners: MimirTech
Links:
[1] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/feature-article/inhibitor-persistently-decreased-enteric-methane-emission-dairy-cows-no-negative
[2] http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2015/07/29/1504124112
[3] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/author/alexander-n-hristov
[4] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/author/joonpyo-oh
[5] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/author/fabio-giallongo-et-al
[6] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/journal/proceedings-national-academy-sciences
[7] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/cattle
[8] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/methane
[9] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/green-house-gases
[10] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/livestock
[11] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/united-states-america-us
[12] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/animal-feed
[13] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/climate-change
