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What happens to the molecules that would have become methane: what do they become instead?
by graeme 8y ago
What happens to the molecules that would have become methane: what do they become instead?
- gniv 8y agoMethane is just CH4. I suspect it's not produced anymore on the partial-seaweed diet.
- pygy_ 8y agoBut it then it is diverted to other pathways. It could become meat, milk, or manure. I don't think there's a lot of aerobic activity going on in the rumen, so at least we know that it isn't immediately turned into CO2 (even if that would have been a win, methane is 10 times worse a greenhouse gas).
- smhost 8y ago> Enteric CH4 is a consequence of anaerobic fermentation of feed organic matter (OM) by a microbial consortium that produces substrate CO2 and hydrogen in a reduction pathway used by methanogens (Morgavi et al. 2010). Feed additives have been used to interfere with this pathway or otherwise reduce the numbers of functional methanogens. (https://doi.org/10.1071/AN15576 https://doi.org/10.1071/AN15576) i guess that means they stay as co2 and hydrogen, but the paper also says that fermentation efficiency is decreased which ends up making the cows eat fewer molecules.