What is the connection between a cow's flatulence, and global warming?
Fourteen per cent of greenhouse gas emissions -- is the surprising answer fuelling a push by Australian scientists to make cows in that country pass wind that is chemically consistent with the efforts of the kangaroo.
Apparently, Australia's national animal has some special bacteria in its stomach that cuts methane content in flatulence to zero. Scientists believe that if the bacteria can be transferred to cows and sheep, 14 per cent of harmful emissions can be eliminated.
That figure comes from Athol Klieve, a senior research scientist with the Queensland government, who is quoted as adding, in The Age, that such a procedure will make the cow's digestive process more efficient, and save millions in feed cost.
"Not only would they not produce the methane, they would actually get something like 10 to 15 per cent more energy out of the feed they are eating," Dr Klieve is quoted in The Age as saying.
The monetary side of this argument has prompted farmers, who otherwise might have been inclined to laugh at the idea of environment-friendly flatulence, to consider the science seriously, more so because Australia is currently in the throes of prolonged, devastating drought.
Researchers are quoted as saying it could take up to three years just to isolate the kangaroo bacteria, before the process of transferring them to cows and sheep can even be contemplated.
