A university teacher has plans to grow green tea using panda manure as fertilizer and sell it at sky-high prices, the West China City Daily reported.

An Yanshi, a teacher at southwest China's Sichuan University, learned during a conference that pandas only absorb 30 percent of what they eat, leaving 70 percent of the nutrition in their manure. He then secured a patent to grow tea leaves with panda dung.

He expects to sell the tea for 219,865 yuan ($34,422) for half of a kilogram. An's version will be priced 10 times higher than the most expensive tea on the market now.

An said he thinks panda manure is healthier than ordinary fertilizer. “However, whether the tea grown with panda manure will be better for people remains in question,” said Tang Chuanxiang, a senior engineer of China Conservation and Research Centre for the Giant Panda.

Tang said many companies use the panda to market their items, since the giant animal is China's national treasure

By Chen Yingqun