With its burps and farts, a dairy cow emits a quantity of methane each year equivalent to the GHG emissions of a car that travels 20,000 kilometers. Ottawa has just authorized the marketing of a food additive that risks transforming the fight against global warming on farms. 3-NOP would reduce the methane emissions of a dairy cow by an average of 30% and those of beef cattle by an average of 45%.
What is 3-NOP?
3-Hydroxypropyl nitrate, marketed under the name Bovaer, is a powdered food ingredient that reduces methane emissions from the stomachs of animals. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency approved its marketing on January 30. This additive composed of nitrate and a vegetable alcohol was already authorized in 58 other countries around the world.
The European company DSM-Firmenich claims that the product allows a reduction of around 1 ton of CO2 per dairy cow each year. Simply add ¼ teaspoon per day to the animal’s food.
“Adding Bovaer to the ration of three cows is equivalent to taking a family car off the road and adding Bovaer to the ration of a million cows is equivalent to planting a forest of 45 million trees,” the company says on its website. Internet.
How it works ?
With their belching (and their flatulence to a much lesser extent), cows emit methane (CH4). Methane is formed in the rumen – the front compartment of the stomach of cattle – following a digestive process called enteric fermentation.
“In the rumen, we have (millions of billions) of microorganisms. (…) we are in the 15 zeros after the 1! So there are really astronomical quantities,” explains Andréanne La Salle, agronomist and instructor in animal production in the college program at the MacDonald campus of McGill University.
Among these microorganisms are archaea (Archea in Latin). They release methane combining hydrogen and CO molecules2 from digestion.
“This is when the cow will burp the methane and it will be released through its mouth into the environment. 3-NOP will reduce the (number of archaea or prevent them) from developing,” adds Mme The room.
Dairy Farmers of Canada want to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Will this tool be a game-changer?
It is an interesting tool, provided that agricultural companies have the means to use it, believes Mme The room. The latter estimates that the daily cost of 3-NOP will be around 50 cents per cow.
“Fifty cents per cow per day doesn’t sound like much when you say it just like that, but if we look at an average dairy herd in Quebec, we’re talking about 75 lactating cows per year, multiplied by 365 days , do the math: that comes to around $13,000. And when we talk about a farm of 75 cows, we are talking about the family income of a family,” she emphasizes, adding that it could be interesting to subsidize producers who decide to use it.
“From what I understand of DSM’s pricing strategy is that they set the price based on the price per tonne of carbon. So use depends on the ability of producers to monetize reductions in methane emissions,” adds Daniel Lefebvre, head of innovation at the Lactanet center of expertise in dairy production. He estimates the cost at 45 cents per animal per day.
Does it change the taste of milk?
No. “It is a molecule which has been widely studied both for its effectiveness, but also (its safety) from the point of view of cow health. From the point of view of milk quality, there is no change in the composition or properties,” explains Daniel Lefebvre.
Bovaer was notably tested during a large two-year study carried out in Alberta on 15,000 beef cattle. Emissions reductions of up to 82% have been seen. The company says 65 on-farm trials have been carried out in 20 countries generating 70 scientific publications.
Mr. Lefebvre affirms that the results put forward by the company are credible. “It’s documented by published, peer-reviewed research,” he points out.
Why is it important to reduce methane emissions from livestock?
Methane is a powerful GHG with a global warming potential nearly 28 times greater than carbon dioxide (CO).2) over 100 years. It is responsible for around 30% of global warming since the pre-industrial era.
In Canada, agriculture is responsible for approximately 10% of greenhouse gas emissions. Canada’s 200,000 farms alone generated 73 megatons (Mt) of CO equivalents2 in 2019. Of this number, a quantity of 24 Mt came from enteric fermentation.
According to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, a lactating dairy cow generates approximately 400 g of methane per day. In one year, this represents an amount of methane equivalent to the emissions of an average car that travels 20,000 kilometers.
“Enteric methane accounts for 48% of GHG emissions from dairy farms,” underlines Daniel Lefebvre.
According to the United Nations Environment Program, reducing human-caused methane emissions by 45% over the next decade would prevent global warming by almost 0.3°C by 2045 .
reference: www.lapresse.ca