Fattening livestock with red algae reduces methane emissions

 Asparagopsis taxiformis is a popular Pacific "red algae" that could save the world from greenhouse gases.

Studies in Australia and CANADA have shown that a small amount of red algae added to livestock feed significantly reduces the amount of methane emitted by livestock. Cow burps alone account for 26 percent of the country's total methane emissions, according to the EPA, and the US alone is the world's fourth largest producer of cattle after CHINA , Brazil and India.

Now researchers at the University of California, Davis have proven that seaweed inhibits belching, and adding it to cattle diets does not harm the animals' growth or alter the taste of beef.

Cattle that ate just three ounces of algae a day for five months gained the same weight as their herd mates while emitting 82% less methane into the atmosphere.

The University of California, Davis followed up on earlier studies of dairy cows in which methane emissions were reduced by 50%. Their daily dosage of seaweed has been used since the cows were small until they were adults. The researchers found that eating algae for longer periods of time did not change the taste of MILK.

One problem: all the researchers used a red algae called Asparagopsis toxiformis. It is one of the most popular seaweed ingredients in Hawaiian cuisine and is traditionally used in poke. But stocks of wild crops are not enough, and start-ups are already being created to produce them.

SeafoodSource reports that the Royal Swedish Institute of Technology, in partnership with Yale University, is growing red algae in above-ground tanks with the intention of supplying livestock farmers around the world.

An Australian project called Greener Grazing is the first to develop methods for obtaining and seeding asparagose spores for ocean cultivation. And last year, a dried product called FutureFeed, created at James Cook University in partnership with MEAT and Livestock Australia, won a $1 million Food Planet Prize. Doses of one to two percent of dried algae reduce methane emissions from ruminants by 99 percent.

Producers say that if just 10% of the world's livestock producers added 1% seaweed meal to their daily livestock feed, it would be like taking 100 million cars off the road.