Extension: Dairy Cow Feed Supplement Cuts Methane Emissions

The addition of 3-Nitrooxypropanol to the feed of dairy cows reduced their enteric methane emissions by about 25 percent in a recently published study.

The study is one in a series of Penn State studies of the investigational substance in the United States. The finding might be an early step toward it being approved for use in this country.

Often referred to as 3-NOP, the compound inhibits an enzyme that is crucial to the final stage of methane synthesis in a cow’s rumen. When 3-NOP is fed to cattle, their methane production is inhibited, explained researcher Alex Hristov, distinguished...