Six calves cloned simultaneously in Henan

A cloned male Blonde d'Aquitane calf waits for hay at Henan Gold Cattle Agriculture Development Co., Ltd in Xuchang city, Central China's Henan province, on Dec 10, 2015. [Photo/IC]

"With a fingernail-sized bit of flesh taken from the ear of the only Blonde d'Aquitane, our technicians generated an oocyte equivalent to a fertilized egg after a 10-day cell tissue culturing in December, 2014. Seven days later, five embryos were generated. These embryos were transplanted into worms of five Angus cows,and six calves were born, including a pair of twins 10 months later," said Zhou Zhengqiang, general manager of Henan Gold Cattle Agriculture Development Co., Ltd.

Zhou added that the cows had the six calves through cesarean deliveries since the baby calves are heavier than calves of the Chinese yellow cattle breed.

The successful cloning not only enriches germplasm resources of beef cattle in China, but also increases the quality of beef cattle in China to catch up with that in developed countries.