The common saying “Eat the grass, squeeze out the milk.” vividly describes the progress of ruminant digestion. However, this progress is always associated with the formation of methane (CH₄) - a very effective greenhouse gas. How to meet the needs of mankind and minimize the displacement of greenhouse gas is a thorny question scientists faced.

Using in vitro incubation system, a team of researchers led by TAN Zhiliang from the Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ISA) investigated the effects of linoleic acid (LA) supplementation on ruminal fermentation. In this study, the team used four ruminally fistulated Liuyang black wether goats as rumen fluid donors.

Through grouping experiment, researchers found LA addition reduced dry matter disappearance (DMD) of Leymus chinensis and CH₄. Also, scientists found that the concentration of total polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) were increased with LA supplementation during the whole incubation process in vitro. Naturally presented in some products of dairy and beef, CLA has been considered as a healthy fatty acid due to its numerous potential benefits to human health, such as protecting the heart, preventing thickening of arteries and helping to regulation of the immune system.

These results indicate that LA supplementation in substrate could reduce CH4 production, and increases the amounts of some beneficial fatty acids in fermentation liquid in vitro.

This research was supported by funding from “Strategic Priority Research Program - Climate Change: Carbon Budget and Relevant Issues”, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, “CAS Visiting Professorship for Senior International Scientists”, and Hunan Provincial Creation Development Project (2013TF3006).

The study entitled “Supplementation of increasing amounts of linoleic acid to Leymus chinensis decreases methane production and improves fatty acid composition in vitro” has been published in the July issue of European Journal of Lipid Science and Technology.