This National Day, the Xinjiang lamb skewers you eat may contain Zhejiang technology

As the National Day is approaching, more than 2,000 lambs from Keping County, Xinjiang, which are the taste of Xinjiang, have been delivered to Hangzhou, Huzhou and other places in Zhejiang in advance. These lambs from thousands of miles away will be on the tables of Zhejiang people during the National Day.

Behind the delicious taste is the persistent technological support of Wang Chong, a party member and science and technology commissioner of Zhejiang Agricultural and Forestry University over the years.

Wang Chong provides scientific and technological guidance to relevant mutton breeding enterprises

It is understood that the mutton industry has always been a key industry in Keping County, Xinjiang. In recent years, with the development of mutton breeding, the shortage of high-quality sheep breeds and feed forage suitable for breeding in Xinjiang has gradually become a bottleneck restricting the development of local mutton breeding. Yang Huan, the person in charge of Xinjiang Hu Ke Jin Lan Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Technology Co., Ltd., introduced that under the active coordination of the Zhejiang Provincial Aid to Xinjiang Command and the Huzhou Municipal Aid to Xinjiang Command, Professor Wang Chong has continued to provide technical guidance to many sheep companies in Keping County in recent years, and has bred a new variety of "Ke Le Pin" black sheep together with Xinjiang Hu Ke Jin Lan Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Technology Co., Ltd., and the scientific and technological services have begun to show results.

"The new breed of 'Kolepin' black sheep is a hybrid of Hu sheep and other excellent breeds of sheep. Hu sheep from Zhejiang is one of the excellent hybrid mothers," Wang Chong introduced. "'Kolepin' black sheep is suitable for herders in Xinjiang. It has the characteristics of being able to tolerate roughage, being active, suitable for grazing, having many lambs, growing fast, and being black all over. At present, we have bred more than 1,000 black sheep, whose birth weight can reach 3.5 kilograms, 40-day weaning weight is 15 kilograms, and 6-month-old live weight is 50 kilograms. In the future, it will become a new breed to help local farmers increase their income."

Wang Chong provides scientific and technological guidance to relevant mutton breeding enterprises

While selecting and breeding excellent varieties, the shortage of feed and forage is also one of the difficulties restricting local mutton sheep breeding. As a member of the Zhejiang Provincial Expert Committee on Comprehensive Utilization of Crop Straw and the chief expert of rural revitalization in Huzhou City, Wang Chong did not forget to promote Zhejiang's advanced technology nationwide and expand unconventional feed resources with enterprises. In combination with the comprehensive utilization of crop straw that Zhejiang is promoting, he promoted the technological improvement of Xinjiang-aided enterprises in the utilization of straw as feed. The company's roughage uses 100% local crop straw, which saves feed costs while promoting the local ecological breeding cycle.

Wang Chong's team found that more than 20,000 mu of Cyperus oleiferus was planted in the 54th Regiment of the Third Division of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, northwest of Shache County, Xinjiang. Cyperus oleiferus was previously widely used for oil extraction, winemaking, and food. It has tenacious vitality and can adapt to the complex and changeable climate and soil conditions in Xinjiang, but its stems and leaves have not been well utilized by the locals.

Wang Chong inspects the planting situation of Cyperus oleifera

"The cultivation of cyperus rotundus helps protect the ecological environment and prevent land desertification. It has been measured that the protein content of cyperus rotundus stems and leaves is as high as 21.4%, and the starch content reaches 47.4%. From the nutritional indicators, cyperus rotundus can be used as a very excellent forage grass." Wang Chong believes that on this land, the unique plant resource of cyperus rotundus can provide abundant high-quality forage for livestock, bringing new hope to the development of animal husbandry in Xinjiang.

With the help of technology, Wang Chong's team has guided the company to complete the first phase of wrapping 5,000 acres of cyperus stems and leaves, saving more than 1 million yuan in feed costs.

In order to better promote scientific and technological services, Zhejiang science and technology will help more Xinjiang mutton enter the dining tables of thousands of households. Not long ago, Professor Wang Chong took undergraduates to Xinjiang to measure the production performance data of Hu sheep and "Kolepin" black-headed sheep in relevant enterprises in Xinjiang, providing basic data for subsequent selection and matching. Team member Zhang Kai, an undergraduate student at Zhejiang Agricultural and Forestry University, said: "By participating in the teacher's scientific research project, we applied the knowledge learned from textbooks to production, and truly realized the importance of science and technology in promoting rural revitalization."