Saving earth from sheep burps

Belches from sheep, cows and other farm animals account for around 20 per cent of global emissions of methane. The gas is a potent source of global warming because, volume for volume, it traps 23 times as much heat as the more plentiful carbon dioxide.

To protect the planet from such ruminant effusions, a team of scientists has developed a vaccine against the archaean microbes that produce methane in sheep rumens. After two injections of the vaccine, sheep burped 8 per cent less methane in a 13-hour test.

Food additives can also reduce the methane belched by livestock. But they must be given daily, so they are only suitable for intensively farmed animals, whereas a vaccine could be given to all ruminants.

[Sorry, no link. Found this in the newsletter.]


posted by Anonymous at 7:30 PM Comment (0)