Cold-resistant varieties offer hope for grasslands
Print Edition
Chinese scientists have domesticated a series of cold-resistant alpine forage varieties after three years of effort, and it is now hoped that they can help curb the degradation of Tibet’s grasslands.
Yu Chengqun, director of Tibet’s Highland Prataculture Engineering and Technology Center, said planting the new grasses will alleviate Tibet’s grassland degradation and bring benefits to the region’s ecological environment.
Experts from China’s Academy of Sciences, the Tibet Academy of Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Sciences as well as the Agricultural and Animal Husbandry College of Tibet University in recent years have jointly worked on a pasture improvement project initiated by the region’s science and technology department.
The developers of the newly released grasses will apply for national-level recognition of Baqing lyme grass this year. Others will also enter the application procedure after three to five years of field tests.
The varieties, inheriting the cold- and drought-resistant genes of local Tibetan grasses, are domesticated from resilient wild breeds that can substantially improve coverage and yield, said research fellow Shen Zhenxi.
Better forage can also improve meat quality and boost output, which is beneficial to local herdsmen’s incomes and livelihoods, Shen added.
Tibet is one of China’s five major pastoral regions, with a natural grassland area of 85.11 million hectares at the end of 2012. Due to a vulnerable ecosystem and unsustainable development of animal husbandry, grassland degradation has become a serious issue.
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