A Queensland university claims its research into cattle has the potential to reduce methane emissions in Australia's beef industry by 30 per cent.
The federal government confirmed last week Australia would sign up to a global pledge to reduce methane emissions by 30 per cent this decade.
Meat and Livestock Australia, industry's peak research and development group, had previously vowed to be carbon neutral by 2030 through its CN30 pledge.
Professor Ben Hayes from the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI) at the University of Queensland said its four projects could be applied simultaneously to the $14.6 billion beef cattle industry.
He said agriculture, particularly cattle grazing, offered an enormous opportunity to reduce emissions.
"We're taking a multi-pronged approach to this and we're not just relying on one technology," he said.
Anti-burping tablets for cattle
UQ researchers have started work on a project creating pretend cattle stomachs to test if slow-release, anti-burping tablets could substantially reduce methane emissions.
Lead researcher Professor Mary Fletcher said a biopolymer — or natural molecule — holding a bioactive, or naturally-occuring chemical, would be used to make a cylinder-shaped object the length of a human hand.
That object would be given to cattle via their mouths where it would settle in the rumen, the largest stomach compartment in the animal.
Over time, the biopolymer would become degraded by bacteria, releasing the methane-busting bioactive and leaving no residue.
Hopefully, the chemicals will dispel of any methane in the guts, stopping cattle burps and flatulence that are usually filled with the environmentally-damaging gas.
"Biopolymers are biological polymers that are produced by bacteria, they biodegrade to harmless chemicals, that would be within the rumen anyhow," Dr Fletcher said.
"They're good carriers for drugs and for other bioactives and in this case we want to apply it to methane."
Dr Fletcher said biopolymers were already used in human medicine.
As part of the project, Department of Agriculture and Fisheries researcher Diane Ouwerkerk will use a fermenter in a laboratory that mimics the conditions in a cow's rumen to test the rate at which the biopolymer cylinders degrade and release bioactives before a trial is conducted in cattle.
Dr Fletcher said the project was funded for five years, but in 18 months researchers would know whether it was feasible.
She said the technology would be particularly useful in northern Australia, where cattle were only mustered once or twice a year.
Consumers drive emissions research
Dr Hayes will run another project researching other ways of reducing emissions and improving profitability in northern Australian beef.
Other research would focus on how cattle are prepared for feedlots and a low emissions saliva test for animals like cattle.
More than $17 million had been allocated to the work by MLA and UQ.
MLA managing director Jason Strong said there was growing interest from global customers and consumers about where food came from and how it was produced.
"While carbon neutrality is not a major driver yet, MLA's most recent research into consumer sentiment shows that more than 56 per cent of metropolitan Australians would feel more positive about the red meat industry if emissions were reduced to net zero by the end of the decade," he said.
