MAME: Managing Agricultural Methane Emissions. Transforming the greenhouse gas footprint and bio-economic value of ruminant agriculture by selective inhibition of methanogenic archaea
Frontiers for the Future Award
Background: Agriculture is a major contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Reductions are urgently required but, paradoxically, food production must increase to feed a growing human population. Key GHG sources are ruminants, like cattle and sheep, and stored manures. Most produced manure is stored for up to 6 months, reflecting farming practice and legal restrictions. This manure is a valuable resource – as a fertilizer and feedstock for renewable natural gas generation by anaerobic digestion. This research will develop novel, cost-effective feed and manure additives that inhibit methane-producing microbes to greatly reduce agricultural GHG emissions and to maximise the economic value of manures.
Technologies are required to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agriculture and to maximise the value of manures. Antimicrobial reactive oxygen halide species (ROHS) could be safely generated and applied in animals and the environment, and not are associated with resistance. Specific ROHS, including hypoiodite, may be selectively inhibitory to methanogenic archaea at low concentrations and could underpin new feed and manure additives. During manure storage, methane (CH4) and other emissions were reduced by >90% in a 4-month preliminary trial. The preserved carbon was available for biogas production via anaerobic digestion (AD; >20% biogas). Before deployment of ROHS technologies, knowledge gaps relating to mode of action and possible effects on environmental microbial communities must be addressed. Our objectives are to: a) dissect the chemical and microbiological basis of ROHS activity; b) optimise ROHS applications in in vitro rumen and manure models; c) evaluate the potential for ROHS treatment to: (i) enhance biogas production from manure feedstocks; (ii) enhance the fertiliser value of manures; and d) evaluate, in vivo, the potential for ROHS compositions as feed additives to reduce CH4 emissions from ruminants. The effect of the treatments on microbial communities in manures, AD reactors and soils will also be determined.
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