Meat and dairy products are part of many of our diets, but cows are unfortunately also contributing to climate change. Around a half of total of the UK's agricultural greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture comes from cattle. Cows in particular produce methane as they belch during eating. 

At a research farm, run by Scotland's Rural College (SRUC), scientists are measuring exactly how much methane is emitted and at the same are conducting tests to find out which feed additives might reduce it.

Over a period of three days, cows are placed in a respiration chamber which measures their total methane emissions, while they are fed a variety of experimental feed. "They tend to range quite widely in their efficacy, so some we've seen quite a large reduction, up to 30 percent reduction and some are much smaller, maybe 5 to 10 percent,” says Gemma Miller, a research fellow at SRUC. 

"I think it’s important to have a range of different options for farmers in reducing methane emissions. Every farm is different. Every production system is different. So, we can have a range of different products, that will give every farmer an opportunity to do something to help."

Back in the laboratory on an Edinburgh university campus, scientists from SRUC are busy conducting tests on compound derived from daffodils, known as haemanthamine. In this laboratory setting, they have already been able to prove that tiny amounts of this white powder can make big difference in reducing methane levels. 

Scientists work with samples of fluids from a cows' stomach, fermented with animal feed mixed with the daffodil extract, to simulate the digestive process. The rumen samples with added daffodil extract clearly show lower methane readings. 

"The main compound has shown up to a 30 percent decrease in methane production and actually, some of its derivatives, chemical derivatives, have shown a total depletion of the methane production, so 100 percent," says SRUC researcher Juanma Palma-Hidalgo.

The research, funded by the UK government, is part of a new collaborative project, Dancing with Daffodils, which involves multiple partners. Scientists at Bangor University have developed daffodil extraction over many years and are now trying to increase the scale of that intricate extraction process for eventual commercial production.

At the same time, field tests are now being carried out on farms and to help develop an animal feed product containing a daffodil product for wider use. Scientists have teamed up with Grampian Growers, a vast daffodil farm in northeast Scotland. 

"So, we're actually going to be supplying the daffodil bulbs to the other partners in the project, where they extract and process the alkaloids out of them to then use, to put towards the new feed additive," says Claire Dyce the Business Development Manager, Grampian Growers. 

The company is excited about the project and ready to ramp up production once trails are completed. "To find out it could reduce methane levels in cows that was extremely surprising. But I think it's quite a little-known fact that the daffodil, as humble as it can be, actually has so many amazing compounds."

The research is set to last four years, with hope it may one day help achieve net zero agriculture.

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