Oregano supplement reduces methane emissions in cows

In a series of laboratory experiments and a live animal test, an oregano-based supplement not only decreased methane emissions in dairy cows by 40 per cent, but also improved milk production, according to Alexander Hristov, an associate professor of dairy nutrition.

The natural methane-reduction supplement could lead to a cleaner environment and more productive dairy operations.

’Cattle are actually a major producer of methane gas and methane is a significant greenhouse gas,’ Hristov said. ’In fact, worldwide, livestock emits 37 per cent of anthropogenic methane.’

Compared to carbon dioxide, methane has 23 times the potential to create global warming, Hristov said. The US Environmental Protection Agency bases the global-warming potential of methane on the gas’s absorption of infrared radiation, the spectral location of its absorbing wavelengths and the length of time methane remains in the atmosphere.

Methane production is a natural part of the digestive process of cows and other ruminants, such as bison, sheep and goats. When the cow digests food, bacteria in the rumen − the largest of the four chambers in its stomach − break the material down into nutrients in a fermentation process. Two of the byproducts of this fermentation are carbon dioxide and methane.