This is part of a three-year China Livestock Genetic Improvement Aid Program, which was initiated by the American Embryo Transfer Association (EATA) with the aim of improving genetic technologies for livestock industries in China, according to Wu Yongxing, vice-director of the Food and Agriculture Resource Development Sub-committee of the China National Committee for Pacific Economic Cooperation.

"They donated 30 original embryos to the farm and conducted an embryo insertion demonstration," said Wu during a telephone interview with China Daily yesterday.

Led by EATA President Darrel DeGrofft, the US embryologist group visited Shanghai and Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui provinces, as well as Beijing, and will visit several other places providing dozens of original US dairy/beef cattle embryos and giving seminars and on-site training to Chinese ET experts.

This program will not only increase production of quality beef and dairy cattle in China but will also raise the living standards of Chinese people, said experts who attended a seminar at the Beijing Dairy Cattle Center (BDCC) on Monday.

Genetically improved beef and dairy cattle will make the Chinese livestock industry more competitive in the international market, they said.

It may be difficult to compare the ET technological levels of China and the United States, said Shi Wanhai, a BDCC researcher. With its better quality original cattle embryos and complete sampling system, the US leads the world in dairy ET.

In 2001, China had 5.6 million cattle including hybrid and original ones, both old and young, while the United States had 9.15 million adult original cows. On top of this, average milk production per cow was about 3.6 tons, or even lower in China in 2001, while the figure for US cows was about 8.2 tons.

(China Daily September 12, 2002)