A cloned calf with genes resistant to mad cow disease was born in east China's Shandong Province on Tuesday.

Scientists with the Laiyang Agro-Science Institute in Shandong said they used gene-transplant technology to introduce the genes to the calf cloned from cells of an adult cow.

However, experts say that further tests need to be carried out to confirm the cloning has been a success.

The province's key research project was led by professors Dong Yajuan and Bo Xuejin, who succeeded in cloning China's first and second healthy cows in 2001.

The calf, weighing 55 kg, is 85 centimeters wide and 95 centimeters tall.

(Xinhua News Agency April 26, 2006)