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Seaweed in Cow Feed Reduces Methane Emissions Almost Entirely

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11–20 of 282 posts

Re: Seaweed in Cow Feed Reduces Methane Emissions Almost Entirely

#11
post #6

I recently heard about Russian cosmonauts eating a lot of dill to counteract farting. It's apparently called a carminative, and seaweed is a carminative too.

Interesting, but I believe that methane emissions from cows are burps rather than farts, and there's a lot more fermentation going on in a cow's rumen than in our guts, so there might be some other mechanism at play here. Or perhaps not.

Re: Seaweed in Cow Feed Reduces Methane Emissions Almost Entirely

#12
post #5
post #3

So this begs the mildly racist question, do Japanese people fart? Can they light their farts on fire? Maybe not if the seaweed in the diet kills off methane producing bacteria.

Ummm, humans aren't ruminants ;)

Also, cows burp (not fart) methane.

Re: Seaweed in Cow Feed Reduces Methane Emissions Almost Entirely

#14
Can this study be done with the cow feed just being plain old grass? There’s lots of anecdotal evidence showing grass fed cows don’t produce much methane, thereby making pasture raised meat environmentally friendly. Yet there doesn’t appear to be many studies on it for whatever reason. Everything is focused on corn-based cow feed.

Re: Seaweed in Cow Feed Reduces Methane Emissions Almost Entirely

#15
post #6

I recently heard about Russian cosmonauts eating a lot of dill to counteract farting. It's apparently called a carminative, and seaweed is a carminative too.

I need more dill in my life! After weight lots surgery, any carbohydrates give me the most painful gas.

Re: Seaweed in Cow Feed Reduces Methane Emissions Almost Entirely

#16
How is that the article’s title and did any of the comments on seaweed read the article? It was the experiment with red algae, not the seaweed experiments that “reduces methane emissions almost entirely”.

> Kinley and De Nys tested 20 different species of seaweed on bacteria found in the stomachs of cows. They discovered seaweed reduced methane production by up to 50 percent, depending on the amount administered. But methane reduction at notable levels required high doses of seaweed, almost 20 percent by weight of the sample. This large percentage of seaweed would be difficult to implement outside of the lab and would likely have a negative effect on cow’s digestion.

> When the researchers tested a species of red algae called Asparagopsis taxiformis that grows off the coast of Queensland, Australia, they found it reduced methane production by more than 99 percent in the lab. In addition, it only required a dose of less than 2 percent to work effectively.

Re: Seaweed in Cow Feed Reduces Methane Emissions Almost Entirely

#17

Bromoform kills methanogens.

interesting info about Bromoform from Wikipedia:

Bromoform is the main trihalomethane produced in beachfront salt water swimming pools with concentrations as high as 1.2 ppm (parts per million). Concentrations in freshwater pools are 1000 times lower. Occupational skin exposure limits are set at 0.5 ppm.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bromoform

i wonder if any of the bromine winds up in the cow's milk or meat

Re: Seaweed in Cow Feed Reduces Methane Emissions Almost Entirely

#18
Few stories make me as happy as this one did. Thank you OP. Hopefully in the future I can enjoy a beef-steak guilt-free!

The cow methane problem is one that literally keeps me up at night. I kept thinking about my inevitable switch to chicken and missing out on a tenderloin.. and how my kids won't be able to eat like me.

Re: Seaweed in Cow Feed Reduces Methane Emissions Almost Entirely

#19
post #3

So this begs the mildly racist question, do Japanese people fart? Can they light their farts on fire? Maybe not if the seaweed in the diet kills off methane producing bacteria.

How is that racist? Just being only relevant to one race doesn't make it racist.

its a stereotype. not only japanese people eat seaweed

Re: Seaweed in Cow Feed Reduces Methane Emissions Almost Entirely

#20
post #15
post #6

I recently heard about Russian cosmonauts eating a lot of dill to counteract farting. It's apparently called a carminative, and seaweed is a carminative too.

I need more dill in my life! After weight lots surgery, any carbohydrates give me the most painful gas.

>I need more dill in my life!

Yeah, sure, _until you don't_. Bear in mind that it's essentially an invasive weed if you have a backyard garden. Be careful if you attempt to grow it at home, it might take over.

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