The advance is of great significance to the agricultural industry worldwide as it opens up the possibility of farm animals being automatically protected against the disease, reducing the need for culling and antibiotics.

It is the first study to show that a protective mouse gene could play a role in protecting animals against TB.

The findings were published in the journal 'Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences' and the study was carried out by scientists from the Chinese agriculture ministry. The scientists created 23 genetically modified calves, 13 of which survived into adulthood.

Laboratory tests showed that Mycobacterium bovis bacterium, which causes TB, multiplied far less effectively in the presence of immune cells taken from the GM cattle, which had been given a mouse gene that was known to be protective against TB.

Professor Mike Coffey, a livestock expert at Scotland’s Rural College, said: “This doesn’t produce completely TB-resistant cows, but the aim is to raise the general resistance. This would slow down any spread of the disease and slowly reduce the national level in herds.”

Scientists in Britain have been working towards the same goal using traditional breeding methods, but that requires breeding programmes spanning many generations. “The GM approach cuts out the middle man,” Coffey said.

Chronic and hightly infectious, Bovine TB is a problem in many countries and cattle in Ireland are skin tested annually for the disease. Badgers are traditionally thought to transmit the disease to cattle, resulting in regular culls of the badger population. Ireland has been culling badgers since the late-eighties.

Referring to the breakthrough in China, Professor Bruce Whitelaw, of the Roslin Institute at the University of Edinburgh, said: “The world faces unprecedented population growth on a backdrop of competing pressure on agricultural land and resources. Society needs to embrace many strategies to address this global challenge, both traditional and new, with many seeing genetic engineering as contributing to the much needed solutions.”