Laboratory tests at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, have shown promising results for a new additive claiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from ruminants.

“A 58% methane reduction was achieved when we added Mootral to a typical [Danish] dairy ration of maize, silage and soya bean cake in our in-vitro test,” scientists Mette Olaf Nielsen and Hanne H. Hansen said this week. They will now study the product on real cows.

Mootral is made by Swiss company Zaluvida, which claims that it can cut climate-change inducing gas emissions from cattle and sheep by 30%, and has funded the research.

The company said the additive was made from fruit and vegetables, but has kept its patented formulation secret.

Separate ongoing research in Australia has shown how feeding seaweed can reduce methane production in cattle, but sourcing the additive in sufficient quantities may be an issue.

This comes as separate research led by the Chinese Academy of Sciences found that emissions from dairy supplies to China would increase by 35% as demand for milk trebles in the country by 2050. This includes greenhouse gases from livestock and fertiliser spreading in both China and countries exporting there, such as Ireland.

European dairying alone would need an extra 15m hectares of land and to increase its emissions by 39% just to satisfy Chinese demand under current conditions.

Researchers wrote in the journal Global Change Biology that increasing production and carbon efficiency in China itself would offer a more sustainable alternative.

On the beef side, the most recent Irish research shows wide variations – and therefore avenues for improvement – in the emissions associated with each kilo of meat under different systems.

A moderately stocked 16-month bull system was found to produce 18% lower emissions than the average Irish suckler-to-beef farm.

The Teagasc research also shows that one person’s flight from Dublin to New York produces more greenhouse gas than the beef eaten by five European citizens in a year.

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