Cows and other ruminant animals produce enteric methane as part of their natural digestive process. This methane is the single largest source of direct greenhouse gases in the beef and dairy sectors. As the global demand for animal products, such as milk and meat, is expected to increase by more than 60% in the coming decades, livestock production will need to expand as well, further increasing enteric methane emissions. Reducing these emissions is critical to slowing the effects of climate change while also helping the dairy and beef sectors meet their sustainability goals. However, more research is needed to determine how to safely, sustainably and productively reduce the amount of methane cows produce.
In this episode of Ash Cloud, Dr. Roderick Mackie, professor in the Department of Animal Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (University of Illinois), discusses his international research study on how diets and different additives affect hydrogen production and utilization in the rumen of both beef and dairy cattle and how these changes in hydrogen dynamics affect the amount of enteric methane produced. His research is funded by a $2,494,394 grant from the Greener Cattle Initiative (GCI), a multi-partner international consortium investing in research mitigating enteric methane.
The team has six hubs spread across the USA, New Zealand, Canada, Europe, Israel and Australia. Further conversations with key researchers from the team can be found below:
- Sharon Huws -Hydrogen warfare in the rumen – the source of livestock methane emissions, Queens University, Belfast
- Itzik Mizrahi – Microbial good guys and bad guys, and their duplicitous nature, Ben Gurion University of the Negev
- Athol Klieve – Learning from nature how to eliminate livestock methane emissions, University of Queensland
- Matthias Hess – Ruminant Methane Production, UC Davis”
More Published Information on This Topic
The two key papers published in conjunction with AgResearch NZ are: