Kangaroo poo shows potential to reduce methane emissions from cattle

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Kangaroo poo set to help reduce emissions in cattle around the world.

Transcript

00:00 Well, Robin, there is no denying, of course, our reliance on science and the amount of

00:05 passion that goes into it.

00:07 And of course, science turns up some very interesting, you know, prospects as well for

00:13 us.

00:14 This next question to you is one of the more unexpected questions I've possibly ever asked.

00:19 Kangaroo poo could possibly be a way to drive down methane emissions if transplanted into

00:26 cows.

00:27 How curious.

00:28 How would this work?

00:30 I could give you a list of the most astonishing potential breakthroughs.

00:36 Now, this is work at Washington State University in America.

00:39 I don't know where they get their roo poo, but apparently it could be from the zoo or

00:44 it's from babies, baby roos.

00:46 Now, at the moment, we've got a problem with climate change and methane is 30 to 40 times

00:55 as powerful a greenhouse gas as CO2.

00:59 And there's a real problem trying to get it down.

01:02 Now, half of that methane comes from the cattle, dairy cattle, beef cattle, you name it, around

01:08 the world.

01:09 And they have a particular genetic propensity to encourage bacteria in their rumen as they

01:16 digest the grass to produce methane.

01:19 Now, there's already an experiment using seaweed in Tasmania and it's going quite well.

01:24 But this new research just published is coming from Birgitte Ahring, who is a professor at

01:30 State University, and she has taken kangaroo poo, which has got bacteria which produce

01:36 acetic acid instead of methane.

01:40 And they get rid of the acetic acid in the usual way.

01:43 End of problem, you'd think.

01:44 How they get sufficient roo poo into the cattle is a different question.

01:49 However, once you've got the genetic link, you can have that adjusted in terms of genetic

01:57 engineering of bacteria, but also the essential ingredient you can administer to the cattle,

02:04 rather like they're doing with seaweed in Tasmania at the moment.

02:07 So there is a wonderful way.

02:10 What made them think of getting roo poo is a question that I'd love to ask them, and

02:15 I hope, in fact, to do so.

02:18 But the clue is that when you look at the kangaroos, they do not produce the methane,

02:24 anything like on the level of cattle.

02:27 And so they probably thought, well, what's going on inside their guts?

02:30 And let's see whether what they've got could be useful for our dairy cattle or beef.

02:35 Australia's contribution to the world takes a new turn.

02:38 They're always fascinating talking science with you.

02:41 Robin Williams, our science show host, thank you so much.

02:46 Thank you, Miriam.

02:46 Thank you.

02:47 Thank you.

02:48 Thank you.

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