Climate Change Solution – Asparagopsis Seaweed Reduces Methane Emissions

“It’s not much to look at, but the almost-feathery pink seaweed promises a lot. Methane reductions of up to 90 per cent are nothing to sneeze at,” the Newsroom article “How this seaweed could slash dairy emissions” says.

A study on the effect of Asparagopsis taxiformis on methane production reveals that it can reduce methane production from beef cattle by up to 99%, effectively eliminating all emissions (Daalder, 2020).

New Zealand’s methane emissions from ruminant livestock account for one-third of its total GHG emissions. Finding a solution that can significantly reduce methane emissions will indeed be a game-changer for New Zealand, helping it achieve its climate emissions goal earlier than expected (Methane Emission, 2020).

What is Asparagopsis taxiformis, and where can it be found?

The seaweed’s name is Asparagopsis taxiformis, better known as Asparagopsis. The seaweed’s has a pinking colour and a featherlike structure, a native to South Australia, Tasmania, and South Island of New Zealand. In fact, seaweed is already farmed off the coast of Stewart Island in New Zealand by a New Zealand company.

The article cites a study that shows when Asparagopsis is added to more than 2% of the cattle’s diet, it virtually eliminates methane emissions.

How does Asparagopsis work?

Daalder, M (2020) explains that:

• Asparagopsis contains a property called bromoform that acts as a methane inhibitor.
• It inhibits the methanogens, a type of microorganism, while not affecting other bacteria.
• Inhibiting methanogens leads to increased propionate production, which in turn results in improved milk production in cows.
• This works in all ruminant animals – cows, sheep, and goats that have special stomachs to ferment plants to digest them.

Seaweeds have been fed to cattle since ancient times.

Feeding seaweed to cattle is not a new idea or practice. The article says that ancient Greeks have been feeding their cows with seaweeds, allowing them to roam the coast to supplement their diets (Daalder, 2020).

In 2005, A Canadian farmer found that when his cattle consumed seaweeds, it led to more milk production than his landlocked counterparts. Not only do they produce more milk, but when he tested their methane emissions, seaweed-eating cows produced 20% less methane than grass-fed ones (Daalder, 2020).

Disadvantages of using Asparagopsis cited

While cattle growers and the environment could benefit from Asparagopsis, there were disadvantages that were pointed.

Bromoform in seaweed could have a carcinogenic effect.

The carcinogenic risks from cows ingesting the bromoform from the seaweed Asparagopsis which seems to be property in the seaweed that acts as methane inhibitor springs from a single study where they used mice and dosed them with 1500 times the levels that cows would normally ingest the chemical (Daalder, 2020).

Seaweed production may lead to the leakage of bromoform into the atmosphere.

Dr. Andy Reisinger of the New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre (NZAGRC) thinks that seaweed production would present a high risk of bromoform leakage. He said that the mitigation effect is not from seaweed per se but from the bromoform that it produces.

He added that bromoform is a simple chemical that can be produced in the laboratory, and it would be simpler to administer it via a bolus, rather than go to the trouble of growing seaweeds.

In other words, Dr Reisinger is saying that injecting the animal with chemical bromoform is easier than growing seaweed, which may harm the environment.

Other possible adverse effects of bromoform

Additionally, Reisinger increased the likelihood of this chemical being detected as a residue in food.

Rob Kinley, an Australian CSIRO scientist, rejected Dr Reisinger’s ideas, saying that the role of bromoform destroying the ozone layer is not yet well understood in terms of the carcinogenic properties of bromoform. Kinley notes that little research has been conducted, with only one study to date.

Kinley added that the problems with bromoform impacting the ozone layer and appearing on the food as residues haven’t been quantified yet whereas the benefits of seaweeds are far-reaching.

NZ Government supports Asparagopsis.

In the Beehive press release, it is announced that the government is providing $100,000 to the Cawthorn Institute to utilise seaweed as a cattle feed supplement for both domestic and global markets. This announcement was made when NZ Prime Minister and Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor visited Nelson’s Cawthorn Aquaculture Park. Damien calls this project a game-changer (Methane reducing cattle, 2019).

Another New Zealand technology, founded by a group of local tech and bioscience entrepreneurs, has been collaborating with Australia’s CSIRO, which is also working to produce cattle supplements from the seaweed Asparagopsis. They have received $500 thousand from the Provincial Growth Fund to establish a seaweed processing plant in Southland, New Zealand, where the seaweed will also be grown (NZ methane-busting seaweed, 2019).

It’s interesting to note that New Zealand’s solution to reduce its dairy emissions is just found in its waters.

Not only will the seaweed reduce emission, but another upside to it is the production of better milk when cows are fed with the seaweed. The benefits do not stop there yet.

Farming, production, and processing of Asparagopsis, and making it into supplements, will also help create jobs, boost the dairy industry in particular, and the economy in general.

BACKGROUND PHOTO: By Jean-Pascal Quod – The uploader on Wikimedia Commons received this from the author/copyright holder., CC BY-SA 3.0, Link