Feeding cattle with garlic reduces methane emission.

. Cattle produce a lot of methane which is a green house gas,thus contributing to global warming. The feeding pattern of the cattle results in series of burps/flatus generating a lot of methane,which in turn causes climatic changes. A school of thought suggests cutting down on beef production or totally stop the production,but the benefits of the cattle cannot be ignored and since there are no acceptable substitutes other options must be proposed.. The vegan group advocates more converts,but many people are unwillingly to rock the boat. The livestock industry accounts for over 15% of the total greenhouse emissions,even higher than that of the transport sector,thus adjustments must be made in livestock sector. These approaches will involve improved genetic selection through breeding, modification of dietary composition, rumen microbial manipulation and vaccines against the methanogenic bacteria that generate the methane in these animals and various other techniques. It is possible that among the approaches or with a combination of approaches there might be a way to reduce the global burden of methane emissions from livestock. The changes in nutrition and feed play a vital role on methane production by ruminants thus manipulating the diet of these animals to reduce absolute methane emissions is the key to reduce these emissions.There has been various modifications to feed/feeding pattern by various feed companies all with varying degrees of success such as DSM, a Dutch science firm, developed a powder that can be added to feed and inhibits the production of methane in the cow’s rumen. According to findings published in the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from DSM and Penn State University studied the effect of the supplement on 48 dairy cows over the course of 12 weeks and found promising results. They observed that cows whose feed contained the powder produced 30 percent less methane and gained weight compared to cows who ate typical diets and milk production was not changed. Feed intervention has also been done by German researchers who created a methane-reducing pill, and scientists in Wales found that cows who consumed garlic produced 50 percent less gas although the impact of garlic-based diet on the taste of milk or meat is largely unknown . Feed supplements,additives ,changes in diet and management of herd could hold answer to this climatic change without compromising the protein source and major source of milk and milk products in man.