It's hard to imagine life without the help of cattle farms, which provides the world with meat and dairy that is needed in daily life. Unfortunately, these farms are also notorious for unleashing methane into the atmosphere as a result of the cattle's digestive system. But is it possible to reduce the methane emission from cow farts? A group of scientists have just found a way to remove the methane from flatulent cows and hopefully prevent global warming!
The Facts
According to io9, cows, goats and sheep actually release 100 million tons of methane into the atmosphere every year. The staggering amount of heat-trapping gas from cow farts makes up about 20% of the annual methane emission around the world, speeding up global warming.
But why do ruminants emit methane? These animals have four stomachs, one of which is known as the rumen, which releases an enzyme that triggers methane formation. The rumen is important to digestion and other efforts that aim to tamper with the stomach could be disastrous.
The Helpful Compound
In the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, the Spanish researchers revealed that they have found a compound known as 3-nitrooxypropanol (3-NOP). This helpful compound can actually reduce methane emission from cow farts and introducing 3-NOP to livestock feed suppresses the enzyme that forms methane with no effect to the rumen.
An Added Bonus
The scientists also found that in addition to somehow reducing global warming, 3-NOP can actually speed up digestion in cattle. Study co-author David Yáñez explained that once methane isn't formed, the cows can store their energy.
"We will see an increase in the efficiency of ruminant production systems as better use is made of the energy taken in in animal feed, given that methane production accounts for a loss of up to 12 percent of the energy an animal ingests," he said in a statement. Hopefully, 3-NOP will become a part of livestock feed in an effort to lessen cow farts and effectively reduce global warming.
What do you think about this new discovery? Sound off in the comments below!
