Flower may hold key to cow methane
By Charles Clover, Environment Editor
Last Updated: 6:01pm BST 09/07/2007
A common wild flower may be the answer to reducing the amount of methane that cows belch, a significant contributor to global warming, scientists said yesterday.
snip
Studies in New Zealand have shown that changing the composition of cows' food can achieve savings in methane of up to 50 per cent.
Birdsfoot trefoil, with its distinctive three-toed yellow flower, contains tannins which appear to moderate the activities of microbes in the cow's gut, enabling the cow to digest the latest generation of high-sugar grasses more efficiently without also breaking down proteins which cause the production of methane.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml;jsessionid=YTTUIQOMSAHSFQFIQMFSFFWAVCBQ0IV0?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/earth/2007/07/09/eacow109.xml
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Remarkable the power of a simple flower! And for folks who don't understand protecting endangered flora and fauna, imagine if this flower went extinct as having no value? Hmm. Everything exists in nature for a reason...
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