Feed Supplement for Dairy Cows Cuts Their Methane Emissions

The addition of 3-Nitrooxypropanol to the feed of dairy cows reduced their enteric methane emissions by about 25 percent in a recently published study — one in a series of Penn State University studies of the investigational substance in the United States — which might be an early step toward it being approved for use in this country. Often referred to as 3-NOP, the compound inhibits an enzyme that is crucial to the final stage of methane synthesis in a cow’s rumen. When 3-NOP is fed to cattle, their methane production is inhibited.

The National Institute of Food and Agriculture helped support this work.

Read the full Penn State University article.