Seaweed can help reduce cow greenhouse gas

Melbourne, Sept 12 (ANI): Feeding seaweed to cattle can help reduce cow farts, the source of much of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, according to a North Queensland nutritionist.

Upto 20pct of the methane emissions come from the cattle which is said to be more damaging to the ozone layer than carbon dioxide.

James Cook University nutritionist Tony Parker said yesterday that sheep on the Orkney Islands off Scotland lived well on a seaweed diet.

Dr Parker and colleague Professor Rocky de Nys believe that feeding seaweed to cattle will improve their digestion and, in turn, reduce gas.

"I like to call it the reef 'n' beef project because it has far reaching implications that come full circle: starting with seaweed, taking in the beef and aquaculture industries, and extending back out to the sea to help conserve the Great Barrier Reef," the Courier Mail quoted Parker as saying.

Prof de Nys said many aquaculture farms used seaweeds and algae to clean ponds and effluent streams and this material could be used to feed stock.

Seaweed, algae and other sea grasses had proven to be more digestible than land grass because they had less cellulose and more starch, thereby reducing cow farts. (ANI)