If you have ever tasted Peking roasted duck, you wouldn't forget its crisp skin and juicy meat because of the high-fat level in the bird's body. Chinese scientists have now made the delicacy crispier and more succulent.

The Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) has developed a new breed of duck with high body fat and a new formula fodder to fatten the birds. The new duck variety is set to become a gourmet delight.  

The roasted duck meat would be dry and hard to chew if the bird's body fat level is low, said Zhou Zhengkui, a researcher at the Institute of Animal Sciences of CAAS. Traditionally, the breeders use the traditional way of overfeeding the ducks to spike their body fat as there were no effective formula fodders available in the market.

Chinese scientists have been developing livestock and poultry breeds to support the nation's animal husbandry sector, according to CAAS at a press briefing on Tuesday.

China produces 76.39 million tonnes of meat, and its egg production reached 34.68 million tonnes in 2020, both ranking first in the world, said Qin Yuchang, director of the Institute of Animal Science.

The country provides over 75 percent of crucial livestock and poultry breeds for national consumption, with the country's improved capability of meat production, he said. 

The country has set up 199 national-level breeding farms, conservation areas and gene banks for livestock and poultry genetic resources. It has cultivated more than 100 new livestock and poultry breeds and has also established a commercial breeding system.

The CAAS has built a service platform to preserve and share livestock and poultry germplasm resources, including information on more than 700 breeds of livestock and poultry.

More than 300 local livestock and poultry breeds have been preserved in the form of frozen semen, embryos and somatic cells, significantly improving the diversity of animals and poultry germplasm resources in China.

Meanwhile, the CAAS has vowed to accelerate the building of a national germplasm resource pool for livestock and poultry during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025). It aims to build the pool with the largest livestock and poultry germplasm resources, varieties, and the highest intelligence level globally.

Efforts will be made to develop ultra-low temperature preservation and restoration technologies and explore gene resources for high-quality, resource-efficient and disease-resistant varieties.

A livestock and poultry biotechnology innovation platform will also be established, focusing on key technologies, including cell engineering and whole genome selection technique.

(With input from Xinhua News Agency)