China - Lincoln University research collaboration signalled

A top Chinese university administrator says he can see scope for collaboration between his academics and those at New Zealand's Lincoln University in research.

Head of China's Zhejiang University President Professor Yang Wei visited Lincoln Vice-Chancellor Professor Roger Field to meet staff and see the work being done at Lincoln, and said afterwards he had identified three initial possibilities for collaboration.

The first was the use of nitrification inhibitors in dairy farming - chemicals which can be used to slow the leaching of nitrogen in cattle wastes and in fertilisers, or the loss of nitrous oxide to the atmosphere, where it acts as a greenhouse gas.

"Guizhou province will soon have one of China's largest dairy developments and we want to keep it eco-friendly and clean," he said.

"Lincoln University's nitrification inhibitor work is very interesting."

The work Lincoln was doing on meat tenderisation using a solution based on kiwifruit juice was also very interesting.

"Kiwifruit are abundant in Guizhou," Prof Yang said.

He could also see good opportunities for collaboration in biosecurity work, such as dealing with the problem of insect invasions.

Other research areas would be added to the list as the relationship between the two universities developed, Prof Yang said.

Zhejiang University, founded in 1897, is in Hangzhou in the eastern seaboard province of Zhejiang.

Scientific contributions by Lincoln to China's "great western development programme" - the country's effort to boost its less developed western areas - were also likely.

- NZPA