UNAM Researchers Strive to Cut Methane from Cows Alice Bryant - VOA News
go to original February 25, 2017

Stefanny Hernandez is an assistant researcher for this study on cows' diets and methane (VOA)

Scientists in Mexico say they may have found a way to cut production of methane, a gas linked to rising temperatures on the Earth’s surface.

The scientists say their method may help reduce the methane released by cows, one of the main producers of the gas.



When talking about global warming, many people think of carbon dioxide, another heat-trapping gas. Studies have shown that large amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reflect heat back to earth, causing climate changes.

Methane is an even more powerful heat-trapping gas. Cows are known to produce high levels of methane when they eat and process food. Farm animals are responsible for 44 percent of all human-caused methane, according to the Reuters news service.

Researchers at the Autonomous University of the State of Mexico are studying how a cow's diet affects the production of methane. The researchers are using a specially designed machine to measure the effect.

Stefanny Hernandez is an assistant researcher at the university. She told VOA that, "approximately 95 percent of methane that is emitted by cattle is from breathing.”

The scientists use the machine to try to capture the animal’s breathing to examine the methane released, she explained.

Most of the gas is released when cows belch. The digestive bacteria in a cow’s stomach causes the animal to expel the gas through its mouth.

There are an estimated 1.3 to 1.5 billion cows in the world. Each animal releases as much as 120 kilograms of methane per year.

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