Eco-diets for cows?
Cattle blamed for 30% of Argentina's carbon footprint
Putting cows on new eco-diets could help reduce global methane emissions by one quarter, one scientist has claimed.
A new study by the Argentine National Council of Scientific and Technical Investigations has found changing the diets of cattle from grains to plants such as alfalfa and clover would help boost the battle against climate change, reports Reuters.
Silvia Valtorta, of the council, told the news agency: "We have done a preliminary study and have found that by using tannins, you can reduce methane emissions by 25 per cent."
Scientists in the Latin American nation have attached plastic tanks to the back of cows in order to collect their burps for study.
Guillermo Berra, of the National Institute of Agricultural Technology, added the first results from the study are shocking as 30 per cent of Argentina's total greenhouse emissions could be generated by cows.
He said the researchers "never thought" a 550 kg cow could produce between 800 and 1,000 litres of emissions each day.
Methane is a greenhouse gas that is thought to be 23 times more potent than carbon dioxide in causing global warming, but is a lesser-known evil.
Argentina is known as one of the world's biggest producers of beef, with around 55 million cattle.
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