Paulo de Meo Filho, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Davis, is part of an ambitious experiment to develop a pill to transform cows’ gut bacteria so that they emit less or no methane.

While the fossil fuel industry and some natural sources emit methane, cattle farming has become a major climate concern due to the sheer volume of emissions from cows.

“Almost half of the (global) temperature increase we’ve experienced so far is due to methane,” said Ermias Kebreab, a professor of animal sciences at UC Davis.

Methane, the second largest contributor to climate change after carbon dioxide, breaks down faster than CO2 but is more potent.

“Methane lives in the atmosphere for about 12 years,” unlike carbon dioxide which persists for centuries, Kebreab explained.

“If you start reducing methane now, we can see the effect on temperature very quickly.”

Filho uses the tube to extract fluid from Thing 1’s rumen – the first compartment of the stomach containing partially digested food.

Using samples of rumen fluid, scientists study the microbes that convert hydrogen into methane, which is not digested by the cow but rather expelled.

A single cow belches about 220 pounds (100 kilograms) of gas per year.

“Social Creatures”

Thing 1 and the other calves are fed a diet enriched with algae to reduce methane production.

Scientists hope to achieve similar results by introducing genetically modified microbes that absorb hydrogen, thereby starving methane-producing bacteria at the source.

However, the team is moving forward cautiously.

“We cannot simply reduce methane production by eliminating” methane-producing bacteria, because the hydrogen could build up to the point of harming the animal, warned Matthias Hess, who directs the UC lab. Davis.

“Microbes are sort of social creatures. They really like to live together,” he said.

“How they interact and influence each other impacts the overall functioning of the ecosystem.”

Hess’s students test different formulas in bioreactors, containers that reproduce the living conditions of microorganisms in the stomach, from movement to temperature.

More productive cows

The project is being carried out at UC Davis as well as the Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI) at UC Berkeley.

IGI scientists are trying to identify the right microbe, the one they hope to genetically modify to outcompete methane-producing microbes.

The modified microorganisms will then be tested at UC Davis in the laboratory and on animals.

“Not only are we trying to reduce methane emissions, but we are also increasing food efficiency,” Kebreab said.

“Hydrogen and methane are both energy, and so if you reduce that energy and redirect it to something else… we get better productivity and lower emissions at the same time.”

The ultimate goal is a single-dose treatment administered early in life, as most cattle are free-grazing and cannot receive daily supplements.

The three research teams were given $70 million and seven years to achieve a breakthrough.

Kebreab has long studied sustainable livestock practices and opposed calls to reduce meat consumption to save the planet.

While acknowledging that it could work for healthy adults in developed countries, he pointed to countries like Indonesia, where the government is seeking to increase meat and dairy production because 20 percent fewer children five-year-olds suffer from stunted growth.

“We can’t tell them not to eat meat,” he said.

© 2024 AFP