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by davegardner 2094 days ago
This is partially addressed in CSIRO's FAQ: https://research.csiro.au/futurefeed/faq/

In summary, FutureFeed is working with several external suppliers to establish production. They expect to be able to improve the crop production over time.

One thing of note is significant reductions can be achieved with quite a low ratio of seaweed in the feed. Specifically they report that recent feedlot trials demonstrated over 95% methane reduction with seaweed inclusion at 0.20% of OM in the ration.
2 comments
leipert 2094 days ago
That is actually amazing! I just hope that it can be scaled and will be affordable.

I would still argue that we should look into reducing our consumption, as other environmental impacts like water consumption are still considerable. Anyhow: A step in the right direction!

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wodenokoto 2094 days ago
What happens to that methane? Or maybe more accurately, what happens to the building blocks of that methane.

Those numbers do not show that we are reducing the output of methane by reducing the input of methane, but that the process itself is generating less methane from basically the same input.

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twic 2094 days ago
There is no input of methane. The cows eat cellulose, and bacteria in their gut break the cellulose down into small molecules, including methane. Reduction in methane production can come from a reduction in the amount of cellulose broken down, or an increase in the production of other small molecules.

The other small molecules in question seem to be what are called "volatile fatty acids" (VFAs), which i think are more or less the same as "short-chain fatty acids" [0], and they're good for the animal.

Acetate and propionate are two main VFAs. A study on sheep [1] found that "Sheep fed Asparagopsis had a significantly lower concentration of total volatile fatty acids and acetate, but a higher propionate concentration.". If there's less methane and also less VFAs, then i assume less cellulose is being broken down. But more of the carbon from it is going into VFAs.

It would be good to have a study like this in cows.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short-chain_fatty_acid

[1] https://www.publish.csiro.au/an/an15883

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