Cow Gas is Producing a
Huge Amount of Methane
Methane released by cow "flatulence," not humans, might be the culprit in causing the rise in greenhouse gases. A scientific study on this phenomenon is being undertaken via cow flatulence collection:
Argentine scientists are taking a novel approach to studying global warming -- strapping plastic tanks to the backs of cows to collect their flatulence.
Researchers say the slow digestive system of cows makes them a producer of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that gets far less public attention than carbon dioxide in efforts to fight global warming.
Scientists around the world are studying the amount of methane in cow flatulence and Argentine researchers say they have come up with a unique way.
Attaching a red plastic tank to a cow's back and connecting it through a tube to the animal's stomach, scientists say they can trap bovine flatulence and analyze them.
"When we got the first results, we were surprised. Thirty percent of Argentina's (total greenhouse) emissions could be generated by cows," said Guillermo Berra, a researcher at the National Institute of Agricultural Technology.
Berra said the researchers "never thought" a cow weighing 550 kg (1,210 lb) could produce 800 to 1,000 liters (28 to 35 cubic feet) of emissions each day.
At least 10 cows are being studied, Berra said, including some in a corral whose flatulence are collected in yellow balloons hanging from the roof.
Greenhouse gases are widely blamed for causing global warming. Methane, researchers say, is 23 times more potent than carbon dioxide in trapping heat in the atmosphere and can be found in animal waste, landfills, coal mines and leaking natural gas pipes.
Scientists are working to develop new diets for cows that could make it easier for them to digest food, moving them away from grains to plants like alfalfa and clover.
