Ruminants' stomachs have 4 compartments: rumen, which is the primary site of microbial fermentation, the reticulum, the omasum, which receives chewed cud and absorbs volatile fatty acids and the abomasum, which is the true stomach.Ī typical dairy cow emits about 160 kg of CH4 per year. A minor proportion of CH4 (10-15%) from ruminants is produced in the intestinal tract and exits from their hind ends. The compound, produced by the Dutch company DSM, has been patented and approved for use with dairy cows in Brazil, Chile and the European Union. Development of 3-NOP, now a commercial product, exemplifies the application of microbiological knowledge to mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. Obtaining a product with an enzyme-specific mode of action is just one of many efforts over the past 75 years, along with development of vaccines and other feed additives, to reduce methanogenesis in the rumen and to understand its influence on animal health and productivity. Globally, enteric methane emissions rival those from the oil and gas industry.Ī quest to lower emissions of CH4 from ruminants has led to identification of 3-nitrooxyypropanol (3-NOP), a feed additive that specifically interferes with the final step of methanogenesis. Dairy and beef cattle, the world’s most numerous ruminants, belch out about 100 teragrams (Tg) of methane (CH4) every year. Reducing atmospheric concentrations of methane, the potent, yet short-lived greenhouse gas, is critical for slowing the rise of global temperatures.
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