Cornell University is measuring animal-borne gases. Here's how it can help the climate

Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences recently celebrated the opening of its latest leap toward creating environmental sustainability for the dairy industry: a suite of respiration chambers that will allow researchers to measure all gas emissions from animals in a controlled environment, and support research which aims to make a more sustainable and productive dairy industry globally.

The four chambers are the only set of their kind operating in the United States, and will allow university researchers to measure and monitor the emission of methane and other gases from cows, giving them a basis to reduce future methane output, a main component behind greenhouse gas emissions, a leading cause of climate change and global warming, officials said.

Construction of the four respiration chambers – which cost about $2 million in total -- was supported by Cargill, Genesee Valley Regional Market Authority, and Balchem Corporation.

Why measure animal-borne gases?

Joseph W. McFadden, an associate professor in the university’s Department of Animal Science, said university researchers have been testing different types of cattle feed additives, with the goal of inhibiting methanogenesis – the production of a gas known as methane in the metabolism – amongst its herds.

“Every country typically has a set or two, and they're all a little different,” McFadden said Thursday. “In the US, there are a lot of head boxes, but this allows you to study total emissions in a controlled climate, which is very unique.”

“Methane is pretty potent relative to CO2, depending on what increment of time you look at,” McFadden continued. “It can be 28 times more potent on a 20-year scale or 80 times more potent on a 20-year scale. The benefit is that methane’s short lived, so once it’s in our atmosphere, it only lasts for about 12 years or so, so if you can reduce methane now, its probably the fastest way to slow global warming.”

The university’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, alongside university veterinarians, vet all work involving animals at the college to ensure that no animals incur any stress or injuries as a result of the research.

Benjamin Houlton, Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University, saw the chambers as an integral part of the college’s commitment to making the world a better place for the public, and looked hopefully toward a future with zero-emissions cows.

“We need to create climate-smart vehicles that are zero-emissions, and Joe’s approach here will allow us to hopefully create someday zero-emission cows.” Houlton said. “This is a historic watershed moment in the college where we are taking the climate challenge head on, making sure its science-based.

“Our job is to de-risk a lot of these innovations before our farmers need to adopt the technologies,” he continued. “Our job is to make sure we’re sending them the right science-based information to meet these climate goals and hopefully benefit the entire planet.”

Lowest methane produced per gallon of milk

McFadden said that the United States leads the world in efficient milk production, boasting the lowest methane produced per gallon of milk.

“Keep in mind, in the U.S there was about 25 million dairy cows about 67 years ago, now there are only about 9 million,” McFadden said. “We made more milk per cow, and we also made healthier animals with high genetic merit from the opening. It’s all about genetics, management, and nutrition. With those three things combined, we sometimes call our cows athletes.”

Improving nutritional software

According to the Cornell Chronicle, the chambers will also be used to improve Cornell’s nutrition modeling software called the Cornell Net Carbohydrate and Protein System, which has been used to formulate diets for about 70% of North America’s lactating cattle.

“I think this is the cutting edge of where the industry is going,” Houlton said. “It’s sustainable, profitable with new revenue streams, and its climate resilient which means the animals can withstand some of the devastating impacts we’re seeing, but we have to bend the warming curve to buy us time, and methane is by far the best strategy to do it.”

Houlton said one of the goals of McFadden’s research is to allow farmers to be paid for their carbon services and create a broader and more sustainable dairy market.

McFadden also mentioned that the university is currently identifying breeds from South Asia to weed out naturally low-emitting cow breeds, with the goal of “enhancing their gene pools” (likely through selective breeding) to create inherently low-emission cows.

This article originally appeared on Ithaca Journal: Cornell researchers use respiration chambers to measure methane output