{"id":13122,"date":"2020-07-21T06:24:21","date_gmt":"2020-07-21T04:24:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.carnisostenibili.it\/?p=13122"},"modified":"2020-07-22T11:44:49","modified_gmt":"2020-07-22T09:44:49","slug":"greenhouse-effect-livestock-is-not-the-main-culprit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.carnisostenibili.it\/en\/greenhouse-effect-livestock-is-not-the-main-culprit\/","title":{"rendered":"Greenhouse effect: livestock is not the main culprit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cattle are not the main culprits for the greenhouse effect. Indeed, ruminal metabolic activity has the ability to use biogenic carbon contained in the cellulose of plants that ruminants eat.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start at the beginning so that we can disprove an urban legend<\/strong>. Plants grow by absorbing carbon dioxide<\/strong> and releasing oxygen<\/strong>, thanks to chlorophyll photosynthesis<\/strong>; by removing carbon<\/strong> from the atmosphere, a process known as “carbon fixation<\/strong>“, plants help to counteract the so-called “greenhouse effect<\/strong>“. Just think that a medium-sized tree absorbs a ton of CO2<\/sub><\/strong> per cubic meter of growth and emits 727 kg of oxygen<\/strong> (ECCI, Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Innovation<\/em>).<\/p>\n

Carbon<\/strong> absorbed by the atmosphere during photosynthesis<\/strong> is deposited in the leaves, roots, and stems of plants mostly in the form of cellulose<\/strong>, the world’s most abundant organic compound found in plants.<\/p>\n#Cattle are not the main culprits of the #GreenhouseEffect. Indeed, #rumen metabolic activity has the ability to use #BiogenicCarbon contained in the #cellulose of the #plants they feed on. <\/a><\/span>Share on X<\/a><\/span>\n

Studies show the amount of cellulose<\/strong> is very high in grasses<\/strong> and shrubs<\/strong> growing in uncultivated lands<\/strong>, soils accounting for two-thirds of agricultural land and that can only be used with ruminant grazing<\/strong>. Feeding on these plants, ruminants degrade and digest cellulose<\/strong> in the rumen, in which the biogenic carbon<\/strong> originating from vital processes is trapped. Therefore, it is a natural cycle<\/strong> of formation and transformation of chemical elements.<\/p>\n

Ruminal metabolism<\/strong> has the side effect of creating methane<\/strong> derived mainly from ruminal fermentation<\/strong> (44%) and animal manure<\/strong> (6%) [FAO, GLEAM model], which disperses into the atmosphere. However, unlike what happens with the burning of oil <\/strong>and coal<\/strong> derivatives, that emitted by ruminants is a gas without “particulate matter”<\/strong>.<\/p>\nThe #methane #emissions of #ruminants after a decade are transformed into #water #vapor and #CO2, and are again absorbed by #forage #crops by means of chlorophyll #photosynthesis. <\/a><\/span>Share on X<\/a><\/span>\n

It has been calculated that methane emissions, including those due to ruminants<\/strong>, turn into water vapor and CO2<\/sub> after about a decade<\/strong> and are then absorbed again by forage crops<\/strong> through chlorophyll photosynthesis<\/strong>, fuelling the CO2<\/sub> conversion cycle into glucose and then into cellulose, eaten by livestock<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The cycle of biogenic carbon<\/strong> between plants and the atmosphere is relatively fast (in the case of cattle<\/strong> it lasts precisely ten years<\/strong>), while the carbon exchange between the atmosphere and geological reserves (fossil sources<\/strong>) lasts the span of a millennium<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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In fact, it takes about a thousand years for the carbon dioxide released by the burning of fossil fuels to be relocated to geological reserves, that is, a hundred times that it takes for methane emitted by cattle<\/strong> to be transformed, absorbed by plants and re-enter the natural cycle of biogenic carbon.<\/p>\n

By the way, it is worth pointing out that by studying ruminal microbiology<\/strong>, methanogenic bacteria<\/strong> can be reduced. Much has been done with the feed<\/strong> of so-called “intensive” farms<\/strong> (or it would be better to call them \u201cconfined\u201d, at least in the Italian context), whose nutrients produce less methane than those farmed extensively<\/strong> and fed grazing<\/strong>.<\/p>\n