Chinanews.com, February 21 (Xinhua) According to Kyodo News, Japan's Hokkaido University Graduate School Distinguished Professor Kobayashi Tainan and his team are studying how to reduce the greenhouse gas methane emitted by cattle belching.

　　Microorganisms in cow stomachs produce methane in processes such as decomposing forage grass, which is thought to be a factor in climate warming.

The team strives to find feed that can inhibit methane production, and research effective feeding methods through sensors in the cow's stomach and artificial intelligence (AI), with the goal of reducing emissions by 80% by 2050.

　　In addition to Hokkaido University, the team also participated in the Agricultural and Food Industry Technology Comprehensive Research Institute (Agricultural Research Institute), Material and Materials Research Institute (NIMS), etc. The research project is called "Cow Methane Reduction Project".

　　Cows have four stomachs, and rely on the power of about 7,000 kinds of microorganisms to digest pasture, including dietary fiber, and convert it into a source of nutrients.

Methane is produced in the largest first stomach, food is decomposed and fermented by microorganisms to produce hydrogen, and other microorganisms convert the hydrogen into methane.

　　Previous research has found that when oil extracted from cashew nut shells is mixed with feed, hydrogen is converted to propionic acid, a nutrient source for cattle, rather than methane, resulting in a reduction of methane emissions by about 20 percent.

　　To find feeds with better emission-reducing effects, the team is testing feeds such as experimental seaweed and vegetable oils.

They have repeatedly carried out research at the "Dairy Farming Experimental Field" (Nakashibetsu Town, Hokkaido) and other places of the Hokkaido Comprehensive Research Institute.

　　Methane-suppressing feeds were fed to cattle before methane emissions peaked after eating feed, and the methane-suppressing effect was greatest.

Because each cow peaks at a different time, small sensors will be placed in the first stomach to collect data on microbial activity to gauge methane emissions.

Consider using AI for data analysis to develop systems that automatically deliver inhibitory feed at optimal times.

　　The sensor is a cylinder about 10 centimeters long, about the size of a glue stick.

Kobayashi said that he "hopes to develop such a sensor by 2030."