Seaweed supplementation to mitigate methane (CH4) emissions by cattle (SeaCH4NGE-PLUS)

This report contains the main experimental results from the project SeaCH4NGE-PLUS. Briefly, the screening of chemical content of a range of seaweeds collected in Iceland in 2020 and 2021 did not identify a bromoform rich seaweed that had high promise as a methane reducing feed component for cattle. Certain samples of brown macroalgae were high in total phenolic content, indicating a high phlorotannin content that has been associated with a moderate methane reduction. That is consistent with the findings of this research. Samples of Asparagopsis sp. indicated that they may have a short shelf life to preserve the bromoform content. Fermentation may increase slightly the methane reduction potential of seaweed, but extracting phlorotannins did not yield a much higher reduction of methane as hypothesized.

This report is closed until 31.12.2023.
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Þessi skýrsla inniheldur helstu tilraunaniðurstöður úr verkefninu SeaCH4NGE-PLUS. Í stuttu máli sýndi skimun á efnainnihaldi u.þ.b. 20 þörungategunda sem safnað var á Íslandi 2020 og 2021, ekki fram á brómóformríkt þang, en bromoform ríkt þang getur haft metan minnkandi áhrif þegar það er gefið nautgripum. Sýni af brúnþörungum voru gjarnan há í fenólinnihaldi, sem bendir til mikils flórótanníninnihalds sem hefur verið tengt hóflegri metanlækkun. Rannsóknir á Asparagopsis þörungum. gaf til kynna að þau sýni gætu haft stutt geymsluþol, en áhrif voru minni en reiknað var með. Gerjun getur haft lítilleg jákvæð áhrif á metanframleiðslu (þ.e.a.s. dregið aðeins meira úr framleiðslu), en útdráttur af flórótannínum hafði ekki afgerandi áhrif á metanframleiðslu. 

Þessi skýrsla er lokUð til 31.12.2023.