July 28, 2021

New Zealand consortium aims to create methane vaccine for cows

New Zealand's Pastoral Greenhouse Gas Research Consortium is developing a methane vaccine for cows, according to its chairman, Professor Jeremy Hill.

According to a Stuff report, Hill said the methane vaccine aims to introduce antibodies into a cow's saliva which then pass to the animal's rumen and bind with methanogens which convert hydrogen into methane.

"That would be the big breakthrough because in theory, a vaccine could be implemented in any animal production system," Hill told reporters at Fonterra's research and development facility in Palmerston North, New Zealand, earlier this month. Hill is the cooperative's chief science and technology officer.

Research on a methane vaccine has cost between $4 million to $5 million a year for more than a decade, with Fonterra contributing up to $1 million of that, said Hill. Developing the vaccine, however, is "very challenging" because of the mechanism used, he added.

"We have proven in principle that there is nothing to stop us being able to do this. We can develop the right antibodies, and we can get animals to produce them. But getting that to work so that we get a consistently large amount of antibodies that then go into the saliva to the rumen is still the hurdle that we are trying to overcome.

"So it's promising, but, by no means, certain we can do it yet. It would be the biggest game changer if we can get it to work, but it's very challenging," said Hill.

A vaccine could be used across different types of farming systems and, unlike other potential greenhouse gas solutions, would not be reliant on a certain type of feeding system.

- AgWeb.com