Equestrian Enthusiasts in ‘Land of a Thousand Lakes’ Uncover Startling Greenhouse Gas Revelation

Climate change is been experienced all over the world for a quite long time. With the increase in natural calamities around the around with strange weather phenomena the issue of global warming and greenhouse effects is being debated in the scientific and public arena. Scientists have been studying the matter for quite some time and the major reason for it has been ascertained.

The measures to control it have been formulated with the decrease in the emission of gases that are affecting the greenhouse and resulting in climate change. In that direction, the equestrian enthusiast in Finland, the ‘land of the thousand lakes’ has found stunning results in their scientific study of horse paddock’s contribution to climate change.

Equestrian enthusiast’s revelation on greenhouse gas

According to Horse Talk, the researchers have made a startling revelation by finding a local source of greenhouse gases. This local source is none other than the horse paddock. The equestrian research was conducted by three researchers  Marja Maljanen, Emilia Marttila, and Hem Raj Bhattarai in Finland. The greenhouse is like a glass wall that traps heat and maintains the temperature of the earth. But with the increase in the emission of greenhouse gases like nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide, and methane, changed its dynamics and resulted in global warming. The research shows horse paddocks can be a potential source of greenhouse gases due to the concentration of dung and urine in them. For this, they had a long-term study of a horse paddock of 2,500 sq. meters on a farm that housed 40 horses in Kuopio in the east of the country.

Soil compaction by the horses in the paddock area also affected nitrogen gases and methane release by decreasing in prosperity of the soil. The paddock gate and the feeding area were the major greenhouse gas emission areas. According to the researchers ” estimated nitrous oxide emissions from a horse paddock for 125 days were close to the annual emissions from dairy cow pastures“.  After a long-term term study and sampling the researchers derived that in order to control emissions from equestrian paddocks, one has to avoid wet conditions.

How the study was conducted?

The selected equestrian paddock was established as a pasture and there was no drainage system underneath it. The soil type of the paddock was clay. Four horses spent 8 to 10 hours daily in the area and grazed the vegetation. Hay was provided daily on pasture and in the barn. Multiple sampling areas were defined in the paddock and around it in ungreased areas.

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This was done to have a comparison of both the area and their contribution to the emission of greenhouse gases. The study was conducted from June to October in 2018 and 2019. In 2018, the researchers took measurements 10 times to calculate the emission of gases- nitrous oxide and methane. The samples were also collected in 2019 and the tests were conducted in the laboratory.

The research by equestrian enthusiasts has brought out a shocking revelation related to the emission of greenhouse gases from the horse paddock. The study will surely help in further study of matter and finding its solution.

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