加拿大科学家研究了新的奶牛性别控制方法(2)

Beef  producers  prefer  male  calves,  which  convert  feed  into  lean  muscle  mass  far  faster  than  females.  That  can  have  huge  implications  to  cattle  ranchers  who  operated  on  razor-thin  margins  even  before  the  mad  cow  crisis  ravaged  the  industry.  Female  pigs  are  easier  to  control.

"Look  at  any  major  global  business  that's  operating  on  a  50  per  cent  inefficiency,"  said  Blecher.  "That  would  be  considered  disastrous  by  any  standards."

Dairy  operator  Michael  Hall  says  the  technology,  if  proven,  would  be  a  natural  evolution  of  the  artificial  insemination  industry.

"If  I  could  pick  the  top  25  per  cent  of  cows  in  my  barn  and  make  sure  they  have  heifers  every  year,  that  would  be  a  significant  production  advantage,"  said  Hall,  a  director  with  the  Dairy  Farmers  of  Canada,  who  runs  an  operation  south  of  Ottawa.

Semen  sexing  has  been  available  in  the  United  States  and  Europe  for  several  years,  but  there  has  been  limited  uptake  across  the  industry  because  it  is  expensive  and  invasive,  says  reproduction  physiologist  Michael  Dyck.

"Artificial  insemination  has  revolutionized  the  dairy  industry,"  said  Dyck,  who  teaches  animal  science  at  the  University  of  Alberta  and  focused  research  on  embryonic  transfers  in  swine.

"This  could  be  a  very  nice  add-on  to  that."

Further  testing  and  field  trials  of  the  technology  will  be  done  over  the  next  three  years  by  Microbix,  which  specializes  in  the  development  of  biotherapeutic  drugs,  vaccines,  and  infectious  disease  diagnostics.  The  company  expects  a  market  launch  in  2008.

Dyck  doubts  there  will  be  many  ethical  concerns  raised.

"This  technology  has  been  developed  in  parallel  with  things  like  cloning  or  trans-genesis,"  he  said.  "So  when  you  put  this  alongside  that  kind  of  manipulation,  the  animal  rights  activists  are  probably  going  to  lean  more  toward  (protesting)  genetic  manipulation."   (责任编辑：泉水)

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加拿大科学家研究了新的奶牛性别控制方法(2)