Guest guest Posted November 9, 2000 Report Share Posted November 9, 2000 XILINGOL LEAGUE, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region: The world's biggest sheep and goat embryo transfer programme has been completed in China. Embryo transfer, a biotechnology established in the 1990s, involves transferring fertilized embryos to female recipients. The aim is to upgrade the makeup of livestock and increase the amount and quality of meat. The fertilized embryos come from a laboratory in Melbourne, Australia. They are expected to produce animals of such good quality that they will grow much bigger than ordinary ones. The process took place in Wulagai District in Xilingol League, and took just over two weeks. Involving specialists from China and Australia, the programme involved the transfer of 12,000 embryos from Australian sheep and goats into Chinese ones. It was the first time in the world such a large transfer was carried out within such a short time - 16 days - compared to an average of 20 embryos transferred each time in Australia. The project was organized by the Hong Kong-based Eternal Technology Group (ETG) and the US-based China Continental Inc (CCI), with an overall investment of 200 million yuan (US$24 million). China's livestock are much less competitive than foreign ones due to their smaller size, lower meat production and less adaptability, said animal husbandry experts. Moreover, over-grazing has led to increasing desertification. Husbandry is widely considered to be one of the sectors that will suffer the most from China's pending entry into the World Trade Organization, which will bring a lot of foreign goods to China. " Transforming livestock husbandry is of particular significance to China on the verge of its entry into WTO, " said Shang Jiaji, chairman of ETG. Embryo transfer is the fastest and most economical way to establish a large number of high-quality livestock, said Mal Brandon, director of CCI and a professor at Melbourne University. 11/09/2000 Author: GUO JIAN'ER, China Daily staff Copyright© by China Daily http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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