for decades HE methane causing bloating and cow dung It is considered one of the most important challenges to stop global warming. While free-range cows have never been a problem, the large number of farms with hundreds of cattle creates a multiplier effect that makes animals major emitters of this greenhouse gas.
On the planet as a whole, it is estimated that Livestock releases approximately 3.1 billion metric tons of methane into the atmosphere each year. Considering that it is a much more polluting gas than CO2, it is a very relevant problem.
Methane has the ability to retain atmospheric heat 80 times better than carbon dioxide and is responsible for 30% of global warming. Therefore, livestock represents about a third of all emissions of this polluting gas in the world. For comparison, a little cow is as dirty as a little car.
The European Union has set a target of 80% to 95% methane emissions from livestock by 2050, and it has made it necessary to seek creative solutions to meet these targets.
Algae, unexpected allies
A few years ago it began to be confirmed that algae could be allies. The first to confirm its potential to reduce methane emissions was a group of Australian researchers in 2016. laboratory experiments, asparogopsis taxiformis, A red algae thought to be invasive in the Spanish Mediterranean, had natural potential to reduce methane emissions.
Specifically, thanks to its parent compound, bromoformcan inhibit the process by which methane gas is produced.
In 2019, the same group confirmed this by adding less than 0.2% algae to cows’ feed. It can reduce methane emissions by 40% to 98%.
A subsequent study from the University of California confirmed its effectiveness. “Now we have solid evidence World Food Center professor and director Ermias Kebreab said in 2021 that seaweeds in livestock diets are effective at reducing greenhouse gases, and their effects do not diminish over time. to 82%.
The problem was so big that it caught attention. billionaires like Bill Gates, who have already shown his intention to invest At an Australian start-up company developing seaweed-based feed, Rumin8. However, Rumin8 is not the first to create food supplements to reduce methane. Other companies, such as DSM, have been marketing a similar product on a different basis since the end of 2021.
It also works by expelling algae into the stool.
Now scientists seem to have found another formula that could also help with the goal of eliminating this polluting gas release into the atmosphere. A recently published study, Boundaries in Sustainable Food Systems, I bet you shed the same kind of red algae in the stool. The results were very promising.
By adding such algae to cow dung, it was possible to reduce methane production by 44%. This occurred in cows that received both feed supplements.
“Many studies have been done using this algae in the diets of dairy cows, but to date no studies have been done on how it can reduce methane emissions in manure,” says Mohammad Ramin, a researcher at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.
The contribution of fertilizer to pollutant emissions depends on many factors, including storage conditions. However, feces stored in a cool, temperate climate like Europe is estimated to be responsible for 12% of methane emissions from the dairy sector.
Reference work: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2023.1187838/full
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