Changing Cattle Microbiome Can Reduce Global Warming

There is a new way of managing catte that is being tested by scientists and it involves changing the cattle microbiome.

According to The Washington Posts article, the University of California at Davis and Innovative Genomics Institute are working to engineer the ruminants' stomachs so they don't produce the potent planet-warming gas methane.

Two cows usually emit as much methane as an average car and this could translate to 4 percent of global pollution every year from cows alone. Methane is 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide in the heating of Earth and accounts for 30 percent of rising global temperatures, the Post reported.

The US$ 30 million project is funded for seven years. With more than 1 billion cattle on the planet, most of them roaming in open pastures, the undertaking is a huge — and necessary — one.

"I personally think this is the one that can make the biggest impact in the world," IGI executive director Brad Ringeisen said. "Say you could wave a magic wand and eliminate all those emissions."

However, the road ahead is unknown, as much of the workings of a cow's stomach are a mystery. Scientists have proved that feeding cattle seaweed, oregano, or garlic can reduce methane emissions by up to 80 percent.

It's not possible, however, to feed more than 10 percent of U.S. cattle every day, so these gene editors hope to create a probiotic pill that could be given to the bovines when they are vaccinated early in life.

"We want to trigger a permanent change," UC Davis animal science professor Matthias Hess told the Post.

The rumen, the largest of four chambers in a cow's stomach, digests food by fermentation, with microbes "do[ing] all the work," as the Post put it.

"Bacteria break down sugars into fatty acids, which provide energy for the cow, and two byproducts: hydrogen and carbon dioxide," Shannon Osaka and Emily Wright wrote. "Archaea gobble up H2 and CO2 and combine them into methane, or CH4.

"The cow burps methane out into the atmosphere, warming the planet and helping spur heat waves, flooding, and powerful storms."

So, changing the microbiome would drastically reduce the impact of livestock on global heating and its effects. The miniature ecosystems, though, have evolved over millions of years, and breaking down the parts and processes involved is like doing 100 jigsaw puzzles at the same time, as IGI head of microbiome modeling Spencer Diamond described it, per the Post.

The scientists believe they could alter the system so duodenibacillus instead of archaea consume the hydrogen. Instead of methane, they would turn it into more energy. The key is to give the bacteria a little push so they can outcompete the archaea.

Farmers and ranchers would likely not be on board without other benefits, such as if these altered energy pathways helped the animals produce more meat or milk, Ermias Kebreab, another UC Davis animal science professor, said to the Post.