Breeding cows with lower methane emissions

Genetics company Semex UK believes it can reduce methane emissions by 20-30% by 2050 through breeding cows with lower methane emissions. The company is working with Canadian dairy testing and genetic evaluation company Lactanet and the University of Guelph to find a genetic solution to reduce methane emissions.

Over the past 5 years, Canadian milk-recording organisations have taken mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy records of more than 13 million milk samples, of which 700,000 have been analysed by Lactanet geneticists to predict methane emissions from cows tested across Canada.
The results showed that genetic selection can significantly reduce methane emissions. Scientists found an 85% correlation between actually collected methane and predicted methane emissions based on genetics, concluding that there is a genetic way to reduce methane. This is because the genetics of the cow also affect methane production in the rumen, as well as the microbes.

This genetic trait is 23% heritable, which is comparable to production and immune response with 70-80% reliability with no impact on yields or fat and protein levels. Dr Michael Lohuis, Semex vice president of Research and Innovation, said: “We already knew that genetics has a big role to play in reducing output, as it is the main way dairy farmers can produce more product with less input and less output. But this technology takes the role of genetics to a higher level.” He claimed at Semex’s annual conference in Glasgow that methane production from cows could be reduced by 20-30% by 2050, depending on the intensity of selection.