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GENERAL ARTICLEMETHANE EMISSION FROM RUMINANTSENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS AND STRATEGIESFOR REDUCTION.Lalu. K., Usha. A.P., Venkatachalapathy.R.T and Prasanth.V.Centre for Pig Production and Research, MannuthyINTRODUCTIONMethane, the simplest aliphatichydrocarbon, is one of the gaseous end products offermentative digestion in ruminants. It is releasedinto the atmosphere by eructation. It is twenty timesmore potent than carbon dioxide as green house gas.Its atmospheric concentration has doubled sinceindustrial revolution. About 22 Percent ofanthropogenic methane is from ruminants.Continuous release of methane is a matter of worry. Italso contributes to green house effect by the processcalled radiative forcing leading to global warmingwhich in turn result in erratic weather patterns,desertification and rising of sea level due to meltingof polar ice cap.METHANE PRODUCTION BY INDIANLIVESTOCKIndian livestock contribute about 14 Percentof total methane emitted by world livestock.According to Khan et al., (1996) methane productionper head of animal (cattle/buffalo) is only 170liters/day which is much less than in the developedcountries where animals are managed in factorystyle. Comparative emission of methane fromanimals is presented in Table 1. The energy content ofmethane is very high (13.25 Kcal/g) and the amountof methane belched by Indian cattle is equivalent tothe feed costing to Rs 2.7 crores per day.J. Ind. Vet. Assoc., Kerala. 10 (1)ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS DUE TOMETHANEAmong the entire green house gasesmethane is one of the most dangerous as its radiativeforcing effect is very high that the greenhousepotential of one unit of methane is expressed as 7.5 Cequivalent. Moreover the rate of production ofmethane is higher when compared to any other greenhouse gases. Methane has both direct and indirecteffect on climate. It interacts directly with chlorine inpresence of infrared energy in the upper troposphere56