LONDON (Reuters) -- Scientists in Scotland say they have come up with a novel method of reducing global warming.
By adding a bacteria supplement to feed for farm animals such as sheep and cattle, they said it was possible to cut the amount of methane, a major greenhouse gas, the animals produce when they break wind.Preliminary tests of the method, which will be presented at a conference in France next month, have been promising.
"We discovered that we could cut the amount of methane produced by almost 50 percent by adding the bacteria Brevibacillus parabrevis," Dr. Jamie Newbold of the Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen said in a statement.
When Newbold tested the feed in sheep the amount of methane each animal produced per day fell by an average of about four liters.
If the method is incorporated on a worldwide scale, Newbold estimates it could reduce methane output by about 6 percent.
In addition to cutting methane output, Newbold said the new diet could also improve the ability of the animals to digest the feed.
The bacteria works by converting methane in the part of the stomach where the food is digested back into carbon dioxide which is less harmful.
"Methane is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide and is also involved in creating ozone in the lower atmosphere. Currently, global atmospheric methane is increasing at a rate of about 30 to 40 million metric tons each year," Newbold explained.
"The challenge is to find a way of stabilizing and reducing methane emissions which is both safe and practical to meet the demands of the internationally agreed Kyoto Protocol on global warming," he added.