经济学人下载:减少温室气体排放(2)

Since a cow has about the same greenhouse effect as a car, cutting the emissions of even a portion of the world's 1.5bn cattle would bring great benefit.
既然一头牛所产生的温室效应和一辆小轿车相同，那么即使是将全球15亿头牛减少一部分也会带来巨大的好处。

Furthermore, according to Michael Battaglia, who directs CSIRO's agriculture and global change programme,
此外，CSIRO农业和全变变化项目负责人迈克尔·巴塔利亚

soon-to-be-published work shows that seaweed-fed beef cattle grew, as predicted, faster than their seaweedless confreres.
即将发表的文章表明用海藻喂养的肉牛，正如预测的那样，比没有用海藻喂养的同类生长得更快。

The methane-diminishing effect of Asparagopsis is caused by a compound called bromoform, in which the algae are rich.
芦笋藻减少甲烷的效用是由一种叫做三溴甲烷的化合物引起的，这种化合物中含有丰富的藻类。

Bromoform blocks one of the enzymes that methanogens use to create the gas.
三溴甲烷阻断了产甲烷菌用来产生气体的一种酶。

The obvious solution to the problem might therefore seem to be to add this chemical directly to animal feed.
因此，解决这一问题的明显方法似乎是将这种化学物质直接添加到动物饲料中。

That might work in principle (no one has yet tried), but in practice would require a lot of safety trials and,
这么做在原则上可行（还没有人试过），但在实践中需要进行大量的安全试验，

if those came back positive, a change in the regulations. It would also risk a backlash by consumers,
如果结果积极，那么规定也需要改变。这可能会遭到消费者的强烈抵制，

who might perceive adding bromoform as adulteration of some sort.
他们可能会认为添加三溴甲烷是一种掺假行为。

The alternative is to cultivate seaweed, rather than gathering it from the wild,
另一种方法是培育海藻，而是不是从野外收集，

in order to provide the quantities that will be needed if the idea of adding Asparagopsisto feed becomes popular.
如果在饲料中添加芦笋藻的想法流行起来，这么做可以提供所需的量。

And New Zealand's government is proposing to do precisely that.
新西兰政府正提议这样做。

It has just made money available for people who hope to develop ways to farm Asparagopsis. Exactly how this will work remains to be seen.
该国政府刚刚为希望开发种植芦笋藻种植方法的人提供了资金。结果如何还有待观察。

But the idea of adding a new crop to the world's agriculture, and a marine one to boot, is intriguing.
但在世界农业中增加一种新作物，一种海洋作物的想法是很有趣的。