WELLINGTON, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- A New Zealand-led study has opened the way to a global approach to tackling one of the major sources of greenhouse gases, scientists at the government's AgResearch institute said Monday.
The Global Rumen Census project analyzed the microbes responsible for methane emissions from a wide range of ruminant animals around the world and found they were all similar.
Collaborating with 140 researchers from 73 institutions worldwide, the AgResearch-led project found similar bacteria and methanogens dominated in almost all rumens (the foregut of ruminant animals) across a wide variety of species and animal diets.
The study team analyzed the DNA of 742 samples collected over two years, said an AgResearch statement.
As well as the expected samples from sheep, cattle, deer and goats, they also studied some from buffalo and giraffes.
Feed is fermented by the microbes in the rumen, allowing the animal to extract energy from feed such as grasses that otherwise could not be digested, so the microbes are therefore essential for ruminant productivity.
However, a by-product of the fermentation is the greenhouse gas, methane, which is produced by microbes called methanogens.
"The rumen methanogens turned out to be highly similar species in all rumens across the world," AgResearch scientist Dr Peter Janssen said in the statement.
"So, only a few species appear to be responsible for all the methane produced by ruminants everywhere, which means mitigation strategies can be developed to target the few dominant methanogens, " he said.
"That's interesting from a methane mitigation stand point because that means the technology that's developed in one place will be applicable everywhere."
