Alliance Bioversity-CIAT inaugurates the most advanced respirometry chambers in Latin America to measure methane emissions from livestock

The Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture

 

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Livestock in Cali, Colombia.

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Credit: Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT / Isabela Rivas

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• The most advanced respirometry chambers in Latin America were inaugurated at the Alliance Bioversity-CIAT campus in Colombia. These are hermetically sealed spaces designed to precisely measure and analyze the concentrations of gases, such as methane and carbon dioxide, produced by animals.

• This advance is part of the Low-Methane Forages, project led by the Alliance Bioversity-CIAT in collaboration with the CGIAR research centers ILRI and ICARDA and their Germplasm Banks.

• The project is evaluating thousands of forage accessions to identify natural plant compounds with anti-methanogenic properties, meaning compounds capable of reducing methane production in the animals that consume them, thereby promoting a more sustainable approach to livestock farming.

Palmira, Valle del Cauca, October 25, 2024. The livestock sector in regions like Latin America and Africa plays a crucial role in the economy and food security. However, it also faces the challenge of adapting to climate change and mitigating its impact. One of the nature-based solutions lies in forages, which, in addition to being the primary source of livestock feed, when well-managed, have the potential to generate environmental and socio-economic benefits, such as soil carbon accumulation, biodiversity conservation, efficient water use, and increased income for small-scale producers.

Forage biodiversity includes a wide variety of plants for animal feed (grasses, shrubs, and legumes) that have been the subject of research to improve their adaptability to abiotic stress factors (drought, flooding, acidic soil), and resistance to pests and diseases, while maintaining high nutritional value for livestock. However, a new possibility has emerged: the composition (naturally occurring compounds) of certain forages can significantly reduce methane emissions from livestock.

With this approach, an innovative research project for development of Low-Methane Forages has been launched, supported by the Bezos Earth Fund and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and in coordination with the Global Methane Hub. This project aims to contribute to a 1.5% reduction in global enteric methane emissions by 2030.

The project is currently in its first phase of “Discovery,” which seeks to identify the anti- methanogenic compounds (AMC) of forage diversity accessions from the CGIAR Research Centers' germplasm banks, evaluating approximately 6,000 of the 71,000 forage accessions available. The process involves both in vitro (in the laboratory) and in vivo (using live animals) trials, the latter being a key methodology, as it allows for the integration of the animal component in the early stages of research, which is critical for making informed decisions in the scaling phase.

"Biodiversity has often been the key to overcoming the challenges humanity has faced throughout the agricultural era. With this project, we aim to tap into the rich diversity of forages stored in CGIAR’s genebanks for their potential to reduce enteric methane emissions". Jacobo Arango, Senior Scientist of the Alliance Bioversity-CIAT and Principal Investigator of the Low-Methane Forages Project.

As part of the “Discovery” phase, the most advanced respirometric facility in Latin America has been inaugurated at the Alliance Bioversity-CIAT campus. These chambers will be essential for in vivo validation of the forage accessions with the greatest capacity to reduce methane emissions. Comprising 16 chambers, 8 for sheep and 8 for cattle, this research facility is one of the most advanced in the region for accurately measuring methane and carbon dioxide emissions from livestock in real-time. Its state-of-the-art technology allows for precise monitoring of gas concentrations derived from different dietary options, while its airtight and controlled environment maintains constant temperature, humidity, and airflow, simulating real conditions for future scaling studies in the livestock sector.

“You know the saying 'you can’t manage what you can’t measure' and that really applies with livestock. It’s tough to get a clear picture of how much emissions come from a single animal. That’s why this new infrastructure is so important and opens so many doors for us to understand emissions better and figure out how to reduce them”. Andy Jarvis, Director of Future of Food, Bezos Earth Fund

This infrastructure strengthens the leadership of the Alliance Bioversity-CIAT in methane mitigation research and environmental sustainability in Latin America, reinforcing its commitment to innovation in sustainable livestock solutions. Furthermore, it reflects the organization's dedication to bringing the science developed at the research center to producers in the field, expanding the impact of these solutions in the livestock sector.