COW TOILETS’ TO CUT EMISSIONS

Prelims level : E & BD – Pollution Climate Change Mains level : GS III - Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.
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  • Teaching cows to use the toilet is not the easiest task, but a Dutch inventor is banking on a new bovine urinal to help cut emissions that cause environmental damage.

The Experiment:

  • The cow toilets are currently being tested on a farm in Doetinchem and seven of its 58 cows have already learned how to use them without the need for stimulation. The urinal is in a box placed behind the cow, while in front is a feeding trough.
  • Once the animal finishes eating a robot arm stimulates a nerve near the udders, which then makes it want to urinate.
  • The device collects some of the 15 to 20 litres of urine that the average cow produces a day that produces huge amounts of ammonia.
  • Bovine urine is kept aside from solid manure to reduce the release of ammonia.

 

Cow Urine and Global Warming:

  • Cow urine a minor fount of research in India for its medicinal benefits may also contribute to global warming.The urine from the ruminant is a source of nitrous oxide emissions (N2O), a gas that is 300 times more powerful than carbon dioxide.
  • Most times, when cow urine is used in degraded pastures, which are also seen in vast tracts of land in India, N2O emissions are tripled, says a study conducted in Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Nicaragua, Trinidad and Tobago.
  • Less understood
  • That cattle and livestock are a significant source of methane, a greenhouse gas, and therefore a contributor to global warming, is well-known. However, the role of cow urine isless understood.
  • For the study, researchers collected urine from cattle and spilled 500 millilitre samples on paired cattle fields classified as degraded or healthy, which was determined by vegetation
  • coverage. In six of the seven test sites, degraded pastures emitted significantly more N2O sometimes up to three times as much
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