Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD: The US billionaire Bill Gates has announced an investment in Australian start-up Rumin8, which is making a seaweed-based feed to reduce the emission of methane cows produce through their farts and burps.
Methane, a potent greenhouse gas is shorter-lived in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. It has eighty-four times more global warming potential over a twenty-year period. About one-third of global methane emissions come from livestock and mostly from dairy animals and beef.
What produces methane in a cow’s stomach?
Microbes in the stomachs of cows produce methane as animals digest food. When seaweed is added to their foods it significantly cut down the amount of gas.
A case study in 2021 revealed that giving cows small amounts of seaweed for several months saw their methane emissions decrease by more than 80%.
Rumin8 produces a feed additive from bioactive ingredients found in red seaweed. The company said lab trials found the additive can reduce up to 95 percent of methane emissions.
