Recently, Joram Mwashigadi Mwacharo, Senior Scientist of the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas ( ICARDA ) and Professor of Animal Genetics at the Scottish Academy of Agriculture, UK, visited IAS for academic exchange. The chief researcher Prof. Chu Mingxing and research fellows of the genetics and breeding of mutton sheep research team participated in the activities.
On March 26, the two sides reviewed and summarized the detailed progress and research results of the NSFC-CGIAR cooperative research project. Prof. Mwacharo highly affirms the current research results. He pointed out that this study is the first systematic study on the polytocous traits of African sheep, and the results will provide scientific support for the molecular breeding of polytocous African sheep, which is of great significance for accelerating the genetic improvement of African sheep. The two sides also discussed the important genes with mining value in depth and clarified the next research direction. Subsequently, Prof. Mwacharo introduced the origin, genetic diversity and excellent traits of African goats in detail, which provided new ideas and directions for the subsequent joint application of international cooperation projects.
On March 27, Prof. Mwacharo was invited to present an academic report entitled ' Genomic diversity research in African indigenous small ruminants: prospects and opportunities for further research ', which detailed the genomic diversity and complex population structure of African indigenous small ruminants, and summarized the paternal and maternal origins and diffusion routes of African goats.
This exchange further deepened the scientific researchcooperation between the ICARDA and IAS, and laid a solid foundation for the development of new international cooperation fields and international cooperation projects.