FLATULENCE from cows is propelling the planet towards global meltdown, Eastleigh MP Chris Huhne warned yesterday.

Mr Huhne, the Liberal Democrats' environment spokesman, urged farmers to change the diets of their livestock to reduce the amount of methane gas released into the atmosphere.

Methane is more than 20 times more effective in trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide and grass-eating livestock accounts for morethan a fifth of the UK's methane emissions.

Scientists at the Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen have developed a food additive made of organic sugars and bacteria which they say can reduce cows' methane emissions by up to 70 per cent.

Mr Huhne called on farmers to do their bit for the planet by reducing the amount of wind among their herds.

The MP said: "Flatulent livestock emitting methane are beyond a joke, and are a major and growing source of greenhouse gas emissions here and in the developing world." Farming can reduce dramatically its own greenhouse gas emissions through diet changes for livestock, but it can also grow a major part of the solution through bio-fuels and energy from green waste."