Geleen, NL, 28 Jan 2021 08:00 CET

A trial at the Dairy Campus from Wageningen Livestock Research in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands, has successfully demonstrated that a novel feed additive, developed by Royal DSM, can be included in dairy cow diets to significantly reduce methane emissions. The emission reductions vary from 27% up to 40% of methane per cow, depending on the diets and the amount of methane inhibitor in the feed. Methane emission from ruminants represents a significant portion of anthropogenic greenhouse gases and contributes to climate change.

The trial with the methane inhibitor Bovaer® was designed and executed by a consortium from across the Dutch Dairy Chain, comprising of DSM, Wageningen University & Research, FrieslandCampina, Royal Agrifirm Group, De Heus Animal Nutrition and ForFarmers. It ran for three months at the Livestock Wageningen Research at the Dairy Campus in Leeuwarden. The Dairy Campus is an experimental dairy farm, part of Wageningen Livestock Research. The trial was supervised by a team of cattle nutrition experts for the Wageningen University & Research and supported by the Dairy Campus Innovation Fund.

The trial was designed to deliver methane reduction results for three different ratios of grass silage and maize silage in dietary roughage, typical for Dutch circumstance in different regions, with two different dosages of Bovaer®. Sixty-four Holstein-Friesian cows in mid-lactation were enrolled in the study to investigate the effect of supplementation of the methane inhibitor with the different diets.

The information from the trial is necessary to substantiate accreditation of Bovaer® by the Carbon Footprint Monitor/Climate Module of the Dutch Kringloopwijzer (the Annual Nutrient Cycling Assessment) but is applicable across Europe.

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Koninklijke DSM NV published this content on 28 January 2021 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 28 January 2021 07:07:03 UTC.