Belching Cows Contribute to Global Warming, Expert Says

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A professor of the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) Anuraga Jayanegara in a scientific talk on Thursday said the existence of 16 million livestock and 600,000 dairy cows in Indonesian farms is affecting global warming due to the methane gas produced from cows belching. 

“The methane gas produced when cows belch,” said the professor during his speech under the theme ‘Reduction of Methane Emissions from Ruminant Livestock’, in a ceremony that affirmed his status as the youngest professor at IPB. The academic at the Department of Nutrition Science and Feed Technology in the Faculty of Animal Husbandry is currently 37 years old.

He mentioned three significant steps to reduce methane gas production for animal husbandry, the first is by reducing the production of hydrogen, searching for alternatives to replace hydrogen, and inhibiting methanogens as microbes that produce methane gas.
The professor said the first emissions mitigation is by utilizing the natural adaptive substance polyphenol that can act as antimicrobial agents to suppress methanogen.

Anuraga Jayanegara conducted his research since 2008 and found that methane gas from cows burps can be reduced when livestock feed is mixed with polyphenol. He also said that methane will be reduced while also giving an added value for the livestock in quality and quantity with 0.35 kilograms weight addition and additional profit Rp500 for every kilogram of livestock feed. 

Read: Global Warming Pushes Rainy Season to Come Earlier in Indonesia: BMKG

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