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Dipti Pitta, da Escola de Medicina Veterinária, está trabalhando em um projeto que pode levar à redução das emissões de metano do gado leiteiro

À medida que aumenta a preocupação com as alterações climáticas, pesquisadores estão trabalhando para desenvolver estratégias inovadoras para limitar as emissões de gases de efeito estufa. O metano compõe 14 percentagem das emissões de gases com efeito de estufa a nível mundial, e é 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere. Livestock, mostly cattle raised for dairy and beef products, produzir 25 por cento das emissões de metano nos Estados Unidos.

foto: Louisa Shepard

EPA vice bile, um professor assistente na Escola de Medicina Veterinária, estudos de grande alimentação dos animais e da agricultura. Ela recebeu um Instituto Nacional de Alimentação e Agricultura a concessão do USDA $500,000 por sua pesquisa sobre os rúmen, a grande parte da primeira câmara digestivo da vaca, ou ruminorretículo.

The grant funds three years of research during which Pitta hopes to better understand microbial associations in the rumen that are essential for methane mitigation. She will study how methane inhibitors function in cows that naturally produce excessive amounts of methane, as well as in cows that naturally produce lower amounts. Microbes in the rumen assist in the cows’ digestive process by breaking down plant material, mas, in the process, some microbes release hydrogen as a byproduct. Methanogens, um tipo de micróbio no grupo conhecido como archaea que estão presentes no rúmen, consumir este hidrogênio para garantir que ele não se acumula excessivamente no intestino de vaca. Contudo, metanógenos ligar hidrogénio em metano prejudicial, que as vacas devem emitir.

Com o aumento da população mundial, carne e laticínios consumo provavelmente vai subir. Mas, apesar dos avanços em outros aspectos da eficiência agrícola, a indústria pecuária está lutando para manter-se com metano.

“Como a nutrição agricultura e gestão progrediu, cows have been able to produce more milk and more meat while greatly reducing the methane produced,” says Pitta. "Contudo, a single cow still produces, na média, 600 liters of methane a day.”

Pitta says researchers have tried to limit methane formation by changing cows’ diets and even using probiotics, but the success of these approaches remains unclear, because of the complicated balance between methanogens and other microbes in a healthy cow.

“There can be significant negative effects when changes like these are made," ela diz. “If we try to provide more methane inhibitors, it has a negative effect on the balance of archaea, which can lead to a decrease in meat or milk production, or even health issues which can have dramatic financial impact. It seems to disrupt the natural balance in the rumen, which makes it hard for the cow to eat properly.”

Pitta is collaborating with researchers at Penn State to further understand this delicate balance. Her colleagues have worked with a synthetic compound that seems to safely reduce dairy cows’ methane emission by 30 percent while maintaining or improving milk and meat production. O composto, an enzyme analogue-containing powder, is simply added to cows’ food.

Pitta uses advanced genetic sequencing technology to analyze the microbial community in the rumen, tracking the impact on cows that have and have not consumed the compound. Results so far are promising.

“We’re seeing a continuous reduction of methane emissions in cows that consume the compound," ela diz. “But with a reduction in methane, it is expected to see an increase in hydrogen production because the methanogens aren’t utilizing it, which could disrupt the natural balance in the rumen. The hydrogen levels do increase for a while, but then they come back down.”

Coupled with selective breeding methods, the synthetic feed supplement has the potential to put a huge dent in overall methane emissions. Some cows naturally emit higher levels of methane, while others emit less than average. Pitta and her colleagues have identified patterns for both high-emitting and low-emitting cows by collecting breath samples from the animals using specialized equipment, and assessing them using gas chromatography, a method that allows the researchers to separate and analyze gases that cows emit.

High-emitting cows produce a different balance of methanogens and microbes that leads to more hydrogen production, and thus more methane, mas, by breeding low-emitting cows and then incorporating the methane-inhibiting compound into their diet, farmers can maximize their overall efficiency while keeping methane emissions low.

“This will allow us to produce more milk from fewer cows,” Pitta says. “By using these methods, we could direct more energy to milk or meat production, instead of methane production. This is good for farmers and great for the environment.”

Pitta would like to eventually incorporate natural products into cows’ diets to reduce methane even further. She has a collaborator at the University of Connecticut who studies seaweed, and she foresees the eventual inclusion of a naturally derived seaweed compound into cows’ diets which have the potential to knock out methanogens in the rumen.

She plans to develop advanced screening methods to better understand the rumen’s microbial and methanogen balance, and then combine her findings with data from milk production and feed-consumption profiles, and with findings about microbial fermentation. This could lead to an understanding of which microbes and genes could be inhibited to improve the microbial fermentation process.

By maximizing the cow’s efficiency, Pitta’s findings may not only slash methane emissions but help farmers decrease costs as well.

Coupled with selective breeding methods, the synthetic feed supplement has the potential to put a huge dent in overall methane emissions. Some cows naturally emit higher levels of methane, while others emit less than average. Pitta and her colleagues have identified patterns for both high-emitting and low-emitting cows by collecting breath samples from the animals using specialized equipment, and assessing them using gas chromatography, a method that allows the researchers to separate and analyze gases that cows emit.

High-emitting cows produce a different balance of methanogens and microbes that leads to more hydrogen production, and thus more methane, mas, by breeding low-emitting cows and then incorporating the methane-inhibiting compound into their diet, farmers can maximize their overall efficiency while keeping methane emissions low.

“This will allow us to produce more milk from fewer cows,” Pitta says. “By using these methods, we could direct more energy to milk or meat production, instead of methane production. This is good for farmers and great for the environment.”

Pitta would like to eventually incorporate natural products into cows’ diets to reduce methane even further. She has a collaborator at the University of Connecticut who studies seaweed, and she foresees the eventual inclusion of a naturally derived seaweed compound into cows’ diets which have the potential to knock out methanogens in the rumen.

She plans to develop advanced screening methods to better understand the rumen’s microbial and methanogen balance, and then combine her findings with data from milk production and feed-consumption profiles, and with findings about microbial fermentation. This could lead to an understanding of which microbes and genes could be inhibited to improve the microbial fermentation process.

By maximizing the cow’s efficiency, Pitta’s findings may not only slash methane emissions but help farmers decrease costs as well.


Fonte: penntoday.upenn.edu, by Jacob Williamson-Rea

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