New solutions to help dramatically lower methane emissions from cattle are continuing to emerge. The latest research in this field comes from Westport-based animal nutrition company Mayo Healthcare.

The company this week announced some really encouraging results from a recent in-vitro trial (laboratory conditions) that found methane emissions could be reduced by as much as 60% from using a natural feed additive called Panatec.

While the study was carried out in a lab and not in live field conditions, Mayo Healthcare says the results show its natural feed additive clearly inhibits the microorganisms that produce methane in the rumen of livestock.

Performance

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, Mayo Healthcare director Killian O’Briain said Panatec was originally developed as a novel antimicrobial supplement designed to enhance the performance of dairy cattle.

The product Panatec Dairy is already on sale in Ireland and marketed as a non-antibiotic feed supplement that reduces acidosis, improves lameness and increases the cow's energy balance post-calving.

However, O’Briain said they quickly noticed the supplement had the potential to inhibit the microorganisms inside the rumen of cattle that produce methane.

The company has since carried out a lab-based study which showed an average reduction in methane production of 60% on treated rumen fluid.

O’Briain added that a recent independent study in an agriculture college in Austria also showed a significant decrease in rumen temperature when cows were supplemented with Panatec compared to a control.

O’Briain says this drop in rumen temperature indicates a reduction in the biological activity in the rumen which produces methane.

Field study

The next step for Mayo Healthcare will be to carry out a large-scale clinical trial feeding the supplement to cows under field conditions.

The Westport company has agreed to partner with Harper Adams University in the UK to carry out the trial at its 400-cow dairy research centre.

The supplement will be fed at a rate of 1% of the cows' diet, which works out at a cost of 14c to 15c per cow per day. For a 100-cow herd, this works out at a total supplementary feed cost of €14 to €15/day.

O’Briain says the trial at Harper Adams will begin in September and will last for eight weeks. It will not only measure methane emissions from the cows, but will also track animal performance in terms of feed efficiency, herd health, milk yield, etc.

The in-vitro study carried out by Mayo Healthcare is just the latest piece of research to emerge in this area.

Mayo Healthcare has recently invested over €2m in a new manufacturing plant at their Westport site to increase its capacity to produce this product over the coming years.

A recent study by Donegal start-up company Dúlabio found that supplementary feeding of seaweed to Irish beef cattle reduced methane emissions by an average of 79%.