A new project led by Teagasc in collaboration with University College Dublin (UCD) and the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI) is set to look at the strategic use of a range of methane-reducing feed additives in beef cattle.

Methane-reducing feed additives have been shown to reduce emissions by 8% to 30% under indoor conditions, which could contribute to Ireland’s agricultural greenhouse gas reduction targets. However, their long-term effectiveness in grass-based systems remains uncertain.

The RU-MIT-LESS research project, funded by the Department of Agriculture, will look at early-life interventions, as well as any extra benefits associated with combining different additives.

It will also investigate how these technologies can be incorporated into practical and economically viable beef production systems, societal barriers to the uptake and usage of feed additives within the Irish beef sector and the effectiveness of new technologies to measure methane emissions.

The project was officially launched by Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon and Minister of State with responsibility for research and development Noel Grealish at the Teagasc Beef Open Day in Grange, Co Meath, this week.

Effectiveness

The outcomes from RU-MIT-LESS are expected to provide robust scientific evidence on the lifetime effectiveness of methane-reducing feed additives, helping to identify practical and economically sustainable solutions for Irish beef farmers, according to Teagasc.

“RU-MIT-LESS will investigate a range of feed additives, both individually and in combination, across different stages of the beef production cycle, including early-life interventions,” Teagasc researcher Dr Paul Smith commented.

“The project will evaluate their impact on methane emissions, animal performance and farm profitability, providing the evidence needed to support future adoption by Irish beef farmers.

“Furthermore, this project will focus on understanding the opinion of multiple actors throughout the beef sector to the usage of feed additives for reducing methane emissions."

“Wearable technologies provide a practical, scalable and data-driven solution for monitoring and mitigating methane production,” AFBI researcher Dr Omar Cristobal Carballo said.

“RU-MIT-LESS will assess a promising novel halter-type wearable device and compare the CO2 and CH4 measurement results with those from metabolic chambers and green feed when animals are fed different methane suppressing supplements at different stages of growth and in indoors and grazing setting.”