Cows To Produce 20 Percent More Milk With GE ryegrass

Australian cows are famous to be one of the best and the largest milk producers but they the Australian scientist don't seem to be satisfied. They are planning to launch a genetically-engineered “super-grass" called GE ryegrass by 2013, claiming that cows grazing on it will produce up to 20 per cent more milk.

"The GE ryegrass, being developed in Australia for New Zealand seed company PGG Wrightson, has potential to make a huge difference to agriculture," said Glenn Tong, the chief executive of Australia"s Molecular Plant Breeding Cooperative Research Centre (MPBCRC).

According to Tong, the technology works at increasing the carbohydrates or energy molecules in the grass, and also to make the fodder more digestible than existing ryegrass. So the sheep and cows can access those energy molecules more easily. These grass will also grow in warmer climate thus making it suitable for Global Warming.

Through this farmers may be able to maintain dairy herds" productivity and profitability in the face of a global warming, while reducing their greenhouse gas emissions.

Gramina has been using “sense suppression" technology to prevent the growth of an enzyme - making the grass more easily digested.

Wrightson has previously predicted global markets will be ready for milk and meat grown on genetically engineered pastures by the time it introduces its GE ryegrass, even though some consumers may object to dairy products and meat reared on GE pastures.

Importantly, the grasses would not be transgenic - containing genetic codes from other species – at the same time would have some of their existing genes either switched off, or boosted in terms of proteins they produced.