Methane Emissions From Cows And Sheep Can Be Reduced By 25% Using Breeding Programs

WUR is starting the Global Methane Genetics initiative, an international project to reduce methane emissions from cows and sheep by a quarter. The Breeding and Genomics group is leading an international consortium with 50 partners from 25 countries that has received 27.4 million dollars from the Bezos Earth Fund and the Global Methane Hub.

Last year, the WUR group already received 5 million dollars from these donors to initiate and lead the consortium of researchers and breeding organizations worldwide. In an impact analysis, they defined in which ruminants and in which regions in the world the most progress can be made with genetic selection. And in workshops, the contours and focus of the project were determined. The goal now is to reduce methane emissions from cows and sheep by 25% in 25 years using genomics and breeding programs.

Feeding bowl
The Netherlands is one of the frontrunners in breeding programs to reduce methane emissions from dairy cows. In an earlier project, WUR developed a breeding program for methane together with breeding organization CRV and dairy company Friesland Campina. The methane emissions of fourteen thousand dairy cows were measured, says professor and project leader Roel Veerkamp. A device in the feeding trough of the milking robot measured the methane emissions that the cows belched from their mouths. By linking this data to the DNA profile of the cows, Anouk van Breukelen was able to demonstrate in her PhD research that methane production in cows is hereditary and can vary by around 25%.

Veerkamp: 'Together with the breeding organization, we were able to combine this data in a procedure to estimate breeding values ​​for bulls and cows. Farmers and breeding organizations in the Netherlands can now take into account the methane emissions of the bulls and cows in their breeding programs.'

Health
By selecting and mating the cows and bulls with the lowest methane production, they get offspring with low methane emissions, without ignoring all other important characteristics in the breeding programs. These include the health, fertility, lifespan and productivity of the animals. In this way, the methane emissions of the Dutch dairy herd can decrease by 1% per year. 'This decrease is permanent and accumulates', says colleague Birgit Gredler-Grandl of Breeding and Genomics.

Data sharing
As co-leader of the initiative, Gredler-Grandl will help other countries and organizations in their efforts to breed animals with lower methane emissions. The first step is for participants to share their data. 'At the moment, there is a lack of data in many countries, so we first want to ensure that our partners perform additional methane measurements in cows and sheep and share this data, so that we can establish reliable relationships between the characteristics and the DNA profile of the different breeds. In order to make a good prediction about the methane production of the animals, the reference population must be large enough.'

Equipment
Why are breeders only now selecting for a more favourable climate score? 'Until recently, we did not know the genetic variation of methane production', says Veerkamp. 'Moreover, we did not have the equipment to measure methane emissions in large numbers of cows. That equipment was very expensive, but has become more affordable, so that we can now routinely measure the emissions per cow in barns. For the Dutch project, we measured 14,000 cows that visited the milking robot 3 million times.'

The Dutch research focuses on dairy cattle, in other countries the focus is often on beef cattle and sheep. This places different demands on the research, because beef cattle and sheep are often kept in large herds outside, which makes methane measurements in stables impossible. The project partners will investigate whether they can place measuring equipment in feeding areas in the open air, but this requires training of the cows and sheep.

Bacteria
The methane is created when the feed is broken down by bacteria in the ruminant's stomach. Veerkamp: 'We are also going to collect data from the microbiome of the animals' rumens, because that microbiome is also genetically determined. There is not one mechanism that causes high or low methane emissions, it is a complex characteristic that is influenced by multiple genes and environmental factors.'

The project is financed through the University Fund Wageningen by two philanthropic organisations. The Global Methane Hub is an international NGO that aims to reduce methane emissions in the world and Bezos Earth Fund is the fund of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos that finances climate and nature projects. The partners include many leading research organisations in the field of animal breeding. Other important partners are the International Committee for Animal Recording (ICAR), which is responsible for the global standard for recording livestock data, and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), which conducts and supervises research in Africa.

Climate neutral
The Netherlands has committed to international policy to reduce methane emissions by 30% in 2030 compared to 2020. Veerkamp expects methane emissions to become increasingly important in livestock farming. 'Our Dutch project also involved dairy company Friesland Campina, because it has clear goals to work towards climate-neutral dairy production. This company already gives farmers a higher milk price if they limit their CO₂ emissions. We expect dairy companies to include breeding values ​​in the future to reward farmers for a herd with low methane values.'