Cows With Gas: India's Contribution to Global Warming

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Cows With Gas: India's Contribution to Global Warming

By MADHUR SINGH / NEW DELHI Madhur Singh / New Delhi Sat Apr 11, 2:00 am ET

Indolent cows languidly chewing their cud while befuddled motorists honk and

maneuver their vehicles around them are images as stereotypically Indian as

saffron-clad holy men and the Taj Mahal. Now, however, India's ubiquitous cows -

of which there are 283 million, more than anywhere else in the world - have

assumed a more menacing role as they become part of the climate change debate.

By burping, belching and excreting copious amounts of methane - a greenhouse gas

that traps 20 times more heat than carbon dioxide - India's livestock of roughly

485 million (including sheep and goats) contribute more to global warming than

the vehicles they obstruct. With new research suggesting that emission of

methane by Indian livestock is higher than previously estimated, scientists are

furiously working at designing diets to help bovines and other ruminants eat

better, stay more energetic and secrete lesser amounts of the offensive gas.

(See pictures of India's largest ruminant: the Asian elephant.)

Last month, scientists at the Space Applications Centre in Ahmedabad in western

India published a pan-India livestock methane emission inventory, the first

ever, which put the figure at 11.75 million metric tons per year, higher than 9

million metric tons estimated in 1994. This amount is likely to increase as

higher incomes and consumption rates put more pressure on the country's dairy

industry to become even more productive. (See pictures of China's cow town.)

Already the world's largest producer of milk, India will have to yank up

production from the current 100 million metric tons to 180 million metric tons

by 2021-22 to keep pace with growing population and expanding disposable

incomes. Livestock such as cows, buffalo, goats, sheep, horses and mules are

indispensable to India's rural economy - whether yoked to plow land, raised for

milk and manure, or harnessed to pull carts to move goods and people. The

Ministry of Agriculture estimates that the animals contribute 5.3% to total GDP,

up from 4.8% during 1980-81. But, says Dr. K.K. Singhal, head of Dairy Cattle

Nutrition at the National Dairy Research Institute in Karnal in northern India,

" while livestock plays a crucial role in the economy, global warming is becoming

a huge worry. We're trying to find indigenous solutions, because our realities

are very different from the West. " (See the 10 things you should know about the

world's cheapest car: India's Nano.)

For starters, most Indian livestock is underfed and undernourished, unlike

robust counterparts in richer countries. The typical Indian farmer is unable to

buy expensive dietary supplements even for livestock of productive age, and dry

milch cattle and older farm animals are invariably turned out to fend for

themselves. Poor quality feed equals poor animal health as well as higher

methane production. Also, even when western firms are willing to share

technology or when western products are available, these are often unaffordable

for the majority in India. For instance, Monensin, an antibiotic whose

slow-release formula reduces methane emission by cows, proved too expensive for

widespread use in India. So the emphasis for Indian scientists is on indigenous

solutions. " We know we cannot count on high quality feed and fodder, " says

Singhal, " No one will be able to afford it. What we have done instead is develop

cheaper technologies and products. " One example is urea-molasses-mineral blocks

that are cheap, reduce methane emission by 20%, and also provide more nutrition

so they're easier to sell to illiterate farmers who don't know a thing about

global warming but want higher milk yields.

Most dietary interventions work by checking methogens - microbes that thrive in

oxygen-free environments such as cows' guts, where they convert the available

hydrogen and carbon (byproducts of digestion) into methane, a colorless,

odorless gas. " We encourage well-to-do farmers to use oilseed cakes which

provide unsaturated fatty acids that get rid of the hydrogen, " Dr. Singhal says.

Another solution is herbal additives. Some commonly used Indian herbs such as

shikakai and reetha, which go into making soap, and many kinds of oilseeds

contain saponins and tannins, substances that make for lathery, bitter meals but

block hydrogen availability for methogens. Dr Singhal says they are used in

small quantities and the cows don't seem to mind the taste. " Imagine how much

potential they'd have in the international market, " he says. (See pictures of

India's biodegradable dishware.)

Several other institutions, such as the National Institute of Animal Nutrition

and Physiology (NIANP) in Bangalore, are also researching herbs. " We're studying

the effect of tannin compounds from various easily-available sources like

tealeaves. We're also studying prebiotic and probiotic feed supplements, " says

Dr K.T. Sampath, director, NIANP. Other institutes, such as the New Delhi-based

The Energy Research Institute (TERI), are working on methane capture strategies.

One long-running project has been biogas production - cow dung is utilized to

make biogas for use in kitchens and even compressed biogas for use in vehicles.

" Biogas plants have been very successful, " says R.K. Rajeshwari, a fellow at

TERI, " Farmers are able to use biogas in their kitchens, to light lamps and to

even drive vehicles. " Such projects, she says, have been particularly successful

at gaushalas, cow shelters supported by donations from the devout and by

government grants, of which there are 4,000 across India now. Most gaushalas are

for abandoned, dry and aged cattle, of which there are many since killing cows

is illegal in all but two states (the communist-ruled West Bengal and Kerala).

" This way they are put to some use at least, " says Rajeshwari, " And by replacing

conventional sources of energy, they help prevent global warming. "

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