The University of Lethbridge received a $1.1 million investment from the Government of Canada to study ways to reduce methane gas emissions in cattle.

This project with U of L, is one of twenty new research projects supported by the Agricultural Green House Gases Program. The program supports research about gas mitigation practices  and technologies which can be used on the farm.

Project Manager of the study, Rodrigo Ortega Polo, says they will investigate whether the use of a feed supplement, biochar, will reduce the amount of methane gas produced in cattle.

"Without all of this support, for example, it would be really hard to plan the lab studies that will take place in order to test biochar samples for their potential to reduce methane first in the lab. If we didn't have that then we couldn't test biochar in feed with animals, which is they way it would work in the real world. What the government is doing is really helping us to test and access the effectiveness of biochar."

He adds, what most people don't know, is the main source of methane from cows actually comes from belching. The cattle belch to so they don't bloat, and belch about once per minute.

Cattle are responsible for 38 percent of agriculture greenhouse gases.

Biochar is currently available in the U.S., but has not yet been approved for use as feed, or as a feed additive, in Canada.

 

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