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WASHINGTON, July 19 (Xinhua) -- A study published in the latest issue of Science Advances showed demand for animal protein and increasing wealth fueled a tripling in the domestic production of livestock in China between 1980 and 2010.

The rise, despite improvements in efficiencies at the farm level, had significant impacts on environmental sustainability, nationally and globally, according to the study.

The Chinese scientists-led team has also devised a blueprint to increase production efficiency and environmental performance.

"China's livestock transition is massive, in terms of its scale and speed," says Bai Zhaohai from the Institute of Genetic and Developmental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the team's lead author.

The market value of the global increases in meat and milk consumption between 1970 and 1990 being twice that of wheat, rice and corn, according to the study.

In China, the average meat, milk and egg consumption per capita increased by 3.9, 10 and 6.9 times from 1980 to 2010, more than anywhere else in the world.

The livestock population grew from 142 to 441 million animals over the period, lifting the sector's economic value almost 60 fold, making China the world's biggest livestock producer, ahead of the United States and Europe.

At the farm level, the proportion of more nutrient efficient monogastric animals (pigs and poultry rather than ruminant animals, cattle and sheep) rose from 62 percent to 74 percent.

The number of landless (housed) industrial systems, which can reduce the impact of greenhouse gas emissions at a product intensity level but limit sustainable production, rose 70 fold.

"However, the costs of livestock transition are also large," said Ma Lin, the paper's corresponding author, also at the CAS institute.

"Animal feed imports have increased 49 times, total ammonia and greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere doubled, and nitrogen losses to watercourses tripled," said Ma.

The team explored two contrasting scenarios to 2050: a business-as-usual model and the new transition supported by stakeholders.

Without change, there will be even greater increases in emissions of greenhouse gas and ammonia, and in losses of nitrogen to watercourses.

With change, greenhouse gas emissions can be cut by almost half and nitrogen losses by nearly two thirds.

"This new transition must be induced by government, processing industry, consumers and retailers," said Ma.