'Waste' turned into wealth on Tibetan prairie

A kind of toxic grass nicknamed "loco weed"，seen as "pretty killer" harmful to livestock, has been turned from waste into wealth by technology, greatly benefiting the herdsmen on the vast prairie in Ngari Prefecture of Tibet.

The widespread toxic grass on the prairies in western China may make cattle go mad or even die of it by eating too much.

According to the statistics of Ngari Administrative Office, in the past years, the "loco weed" caused an economic loss for over 40,000 yuan in Ngari and an indirect loss for over 100 million yuan in Tibet every year.

In 2005, a technology research on integrated control of "loco weed" was initiated by the Tibet Academy of Sciences, the Ngari Technology Bureau as well as the Northwest Agriculture& Forestry University in Shannxi Province.

The research project has made breakthrough in creation of the first therapeutic agent in the world, which has evident curative effect in a short course of treatment at a low cost reduced for 10 times, said the team leader Wang Baohai.

The research team also created an integrated control system, which can decrease the mortality rate of poisoning cattle to less than 2 percent.

The "loco weed" is poisonous but it can be used as fodder for storage after detoxifying and processing. "A main toxin ingredient in the grass has anti-cancer effect, the extractive technology of which has got a patent." said Wang Baohai.

The technologists have passed on the technology of integrated control of "loco weed" to the herdsmen in the countryside of Tibet for many times, enabling them to gain increasing economic income through the technology.