The special seaweed contains substances that are suspected to be carcinogenic.
In large parts of the world, there are cows and grasses. And while doing so, they fart and bark.
It is a problem for the discharge of greenhouse gases .
Especially when they burp, they emit methane, and methane holds about 25 times better on the heat than CO2.
Therefore, American researchers have now tried to give cows a special kind of seaweed in the feed. It turns out to reduce methane emissions from the cows by 82 percent.
WHAT DOES THE NEW STUDY SHOW?
In the study, 21 slaughter cattle received different diets with seaweed in them.
They used the seaweed species Asparagopsis taxiformis (A. taxiformis), which is found in Australia and New Zealand.
It works very effectively against methane, and is therefore used in many studies where you want to reduce methane from cows with seaweed.
In the study, methane emissions were reduced by 82 percent from the cows.
The research article is published in the scientific journal Plos One.
It has earlier research also found both in cattle and in the laboratory.
– When we look in the scientific literature, there is no doubt that we see a significant reduction in methane emissions from cows when they get Asparagopsis taxiformis (the special seaweed species, ed.), Says Peter Lund.
He is a professor at Aarhus University, where he researches the reduction of methane emissions from cattle.
