text: Cows, goats, deer, and sheep naturally produce an abundance of methane — one of the more powerful greenhouse gases — but researchers are hoping that they can all but bring an end to that with selective breeding. Preliminary findings suggest it can be done, according to a team of researchers from over a half-dozen countries. The team found that methane production, which primarily occurs through belching, was consistent in each animal. This finding should allow the team to breed animals that release methane at continually lower levels. If they can make it happen, the environment may very well benefit by curbing a major producer of greenhouse gases. 
   
   However, the team's intention isn't strictly environmental: the real hope is to increase the efficiency of cows and other ruminant, methane-producing animals. The team says that between 2 and 10% of such animals' energy is used to produce methane. Minimizing this wouldn't just help the environment, it would lower feed costs. The team is part of a $10 million project broadly focused on making these animals more efficient. Its next step is to work with a larger sample of animals — about 1,400 — and determine in exactly what ways genetics play a role in methane production. ||||| Natural gas wells leak methane, a potent greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere as a consequence of the production process. So do cows. But where well leaks are called “fugitive methane emissions,” cow leaks are simply called farts and burps. 
   
   Regular Grist readers will remember that we’re really quite interested in this unusual source of methane. It’s silly, but it’s also a big problem. Scientists now think, though, that they’ve hit on a solution: They might simply be able to breed to farts and burps out of cows. 
   
   The Verge reports: 
   
   Cows, goats, deer, and sheep naturally produce an abundance of methane — one of the more powerful greenhouse gases — but researchers are hoping that they can all but bring an end to that with selective breeding. Preliminary findings suggest it can be done, according to a team of researchers from over a half-dozen countries. The team found that methane production, which primarily occurs through belching, was consistent in each animal. This finding should allow the team to breed animals that release methane at continually lower levels. If they can make it happen, the environment may very well benefit by curbing a major producer of greenhouse gases. 
   
   Try that with a natural gas well. Actually, it should be possible to make those leak less, too, but it won’t involve any cow sex. (Although, to be fair, cattle breeding in this day and age probably doesn’t involve much actual sex, either.) ||||| The possibility of selective breeding to produce cattle that are consistently low methane emitters is being explored by an international team of scientists led by the University of Aberdeen. 
   
   The option is being investigated as part of the €7.7 million EU funded RuminOmics project which aims to increase the efficiency of the farming of ruminant* animals, such as cows, while decreasing the associated environmental footprint. 
   
   Ruminants produce methane - a greenhouse gas with a global warming potential 25 times that of carbon dioxide. Methane is formed in the gut during digestion of fibrous feeds and is mainly released into the atmosphere when the cow belches. 
   
   Preliminary findings of the four-year RuminOmics project - which comprises scientists from the UK, France, Italy, Finland, Netherlands, Czech Republic and Sweden, with international advisors from Canada and Australia - add further support to the existing idea that the genetics of an animal may influence the level of methane it produces. 
   
   Professor John Wallace, who researches microbial metabolism in the gut of man and ruminants at the University of Aberdeen Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health, is leading the study. He said: “Methane production represents a waste of feed energy, varying between two and ten percent of total energy consumed by an animal. 
   
   “Methane production is important for cattle and sheep farmers because if the amount of methane produced can be lowered then there are benefits for the environment, production, and profitability.” 
   
   The RuminOmics team has been investigating methane production and feed efficiency between individual animals and the effect of different feeds. In dairy cattle they have shown that the production of methane is quite variable, particularly between individual animals. It is already known that diet can affect methane production. 
   
   Professor Wallace said: “Currently most diets which have been formulated to lower methane add cost or increase losses of other nutrients.” 
   
   In one study from Sweden, increasing dietary protein concentration lowered methane per kg milk output but at the expense of increased nitrogen losses. Nitrogen is lost as ammonia in the urine which builds up in the soil and is converted to the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide. 
   
   Professor Pekka Huhtanen of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, who is also part of the RuminOmics consortium, believes that researchers need to take into account both global warming and nitrogen pollution impacts when change is made to the diet of dairy cattle. 
   
   Professor Wallace added: “The RuminOmics team is finding means to identify animals which are producing less methane and are more efficient across a range of diets. 
   
   “Our work suggests there is considerable variability between individuals, with some producing more than others. 
   
   “The finding has led the team to ask whether animals which are low emitters always emit low levels under all circumstances” 
   
   The team has started to explore this and so far preliminary results, from a group of 25 dairy cattle, suggest that irrespective of what the individual animals are fed, animals which are low emitters are always low emitters, and conversely cattle which are high emitters are always high emitters. 
   
   These 25 cows are just the start of the project which will involve around 1400 animals. The results will enable the genetic influence on methane emissions to be be determined. 
   
   The RuminOmics team aim to use the data generated to develop new models and tools which will enable the livestock industry to select cattle that will have less environmental impact from methane and nitrogen emissions and improve feed efficiency. 
   
   *Examples of ruminants include cows, sheep, deer and goats. They are herbivores that characteristically have a stomach divided into four compartments and chew the cud which consists of regurgitated partially digested food.
target: – A team of international scientists is going to spend $10 million to try to breed a herd of all-star cows—ones that don't burp a lot. The idea is to cut down on the cows' methane emissions, which would have a two-fold benefit, explains the Verge: It would help the environment by reducing a potent greenhouse gas, and it would help farmers by making the cows more efficient and thus reducing feed costs. The scientists have found that some cows simply belch less than their peers, even when fed the same diet. They're going to start with 25 of these well-mannered dairy cows and expand the herd to 1,400 through selective breeding, reports the University of Aberdeen, which is leading the project. As for the environmental benefits of reducing cow emissions: "It's silly, but it's also a big problem," notes Grist. Some farmers have experimented with special diets, but that gets expensive and ends up reducing beneficial nutrients from the cow along with the methane.