By genetically engineering pasture plants, clover and lucernes can be made bloat-safe. A bloat-safe pasture means increased efficiency in livestock and milk production, and higher yields.
Bloat occurs through the formation of foam in the cows' rumen.
Foaming automatically closes a muscle in the animals' throat, preventing gas from escaping. This creates intense pressure on vital internal organs, crushing them and causing death. As lucerne produces about a litre of foam in a minute, the results of bloat are both rapid and disastrous. In fact, the process is so fast that farmers often lose their whole herd within a morning. Loss of stock, however, is not the only problem associated with bloat.