08.09.2021

Feeding Cattle Seaweed Reduces Their Greenhouse Gas Emissions 82 Percent

​Cattle, such as dairy cows or beef cattle produce methane as a by-product of digestion. Cattle are ruminant animals, meaning they have specialized digestive systems that allow them to process foods that cannot be digested by humans and most other animals, like fresh grass and uncooked grain. When food enters a bovine’s stomach, it undergoes a process called enteric fermentation: microbes and bacteria partially break down the food particles, which then ferment in the part of the stomach called the rumen. As the food particles ferment, they produce methane. Every time cattle belch - and, to a smaller extent, flatulate - methane is expelled and enters the atmosphere, where it acts as a greenhouse gas. A new study released led by scientists at the University of California at Davis showed that adding just a small amount of dried red seaweed to the feed of beef steers reduced their methane production during digestion, which could have implications for global greenhouse gas emissions if this new cow diet trend could be deployed at a large scale. A small amount of a red algae seaweed, known as Asparagopsis taxiformis, was used to supplement the cows' diet over five months, their methane production dropped by 80 per cent. Seaweed consumption accomplishes this by preventing hydrogen and carbon atoms from binding.
​Credit: THE YEARS PROJECT