Environment

Agri-waste livestock feed could reduce greenhouse gas emissions in two ways

According to recent research, a lactating cow produces about 322g of methane per day
mihtiander/Depositphotos
According to recent research, a lactating cow produces about 322g of methane per day
mihtiander/Depositphotos

The burning of agricultural waste and the methane that's burped up by cows are two major sources of greenhouse gases. An experimental new type of animal feed, however, is aimed at reducing both the burning and the burps.

Developed by scientists at Spain's Polytechnic University of Valencia, the pellet-type feed partially consists of the rice straw that's left in the fields after harvesting, and the leaves that are pruned from orange and lemon trees. These take the place of the alfalfa that would normally be used in such a feed – typically, the straw and leaves would just be burned. Additional ingredients are included for nutritional content.

The feed is intended not only for cows, by also other ruminant livestock such as goats, water buffalo and yaks, along with camelid livestock like camels, llamas and alpacas. In field tests where it was fed to some such animals, it was claimed to reduce their methane emissions by 8 to 22 percent. Their milk production was unaffected.

Besides its environmental benefits, the feed could additionally provide rice or citrus farmers with an additional source of income, along with providing livestock farmers with a low-cost, locally-made feed.

"It is also a proposal that complies with on of the principles of a sustainable agricultural-farming system: the three Rs – Reuse, Recycle and Reduce – without harming or altering the productive level of the animals," says Prof. Carlos Fernández, leader of the project.

A paper on the research was recently published in the journal Animal Feed Science and Technology. Previously, Mexican scientists were able to reduce cow-burp methane by giving the animals a feed that included leaves from local leucaena trees and cosmos flowers.

Source: RUVID

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8 comments
b@man
hahahaha absolutely ridiculous:) The fake monster AGW has placed in people's heads is not real:) Do you have any idea what 400 parts per million is? :) The craziness is astounding:)
Paul Muad'Dib
You know what would reduce greenhouse gas emissions more than anything else? Fewer people.
ChiliDog
There are 8 billion people on the planet and they ALL flatulate and burp. The non-meat eaters probably flatulate more than the meat eaters. What about all the green house gases from that? The biomass of all the insects in the world most likely far exceeds all the bovine. I wonder how much green house gas emissions insects contribute? This nonsense about cow burps as a major source of green house gases is hilarious.
Bill S.
What a joke. Are you now saying that AOC actually is on to something? These environmental nut jobs need to get a life.
AbsolutJohn
Idiocracy in action... too worried about male pattern baldness, ED, and the small amount of methane coming from cows burping instead of worrying about the gigantic trash heap producing billions of pounds of methane.
I do realize that every little bit counts, but come on! BIgger problems!
How about working on stabilizing the polar ice caps and the Greenland ice sheet? - or getting China, the world's largest CO2, SO2, and soot emissions producer in world history, to fix it?
ljaques
Purina Cow Chow my arse! Feed cows grass and end ebola in the food chain. Screw the farts. Everybody produces them at times. AGWK is fake. Let's take care of the Earth, but the Crimate Chang group is just ridiculous. They're only in it for the carbon credit pyramid scheme.
Jay Gatto
Oh my, hasn't this little article attracted, and outraged the true ex-sperts-in-a-field, producing more methane 'n' C02 than anything, including the melting Tundra, cows ...the lot! Thankfully we has a thing called "Science". Funny, or rather, 'odd'.
Aross
With the millions of buffalo that used to roam the North American continent and the gasses they would have produced, it must have been ready to blow.