A giant panda plays at the Yunnan Wildlife Park in Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province, March 6, 2010. Giant pandas in the zoo started to enjoy their time outdoor as the temperature in Kunming had reached up to 25 degrees. (Xinhua/Lin Yiguang)

CHENGDU, June 9 (Xinhua) -- Chinese zoologists hope a scheme to gradually release captive-bred giant pandas into the wild will reduce the risk of inbreeding among the animals' wild partners.

"To maintain the genetic diversity of the rare species, we plan to release healthy, smart and adaptable pandas into the wild after strict selection and years of training," said Li Desheng, deputy director of the Wolong China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center in southwestern Sichuan Province.

The separation of habitats, resulting from human activities, had fragmented the wild population of giant pandas, which could limit mating alternatives and lead to a high possibility of inbreeding, Li said.

"Inbreeding could reduce the genetic diversity of the rare animal, affect the growth of panda cubs and even lead to stillbirths," said Wei Rongping, another panda specialist at the center.

"We hope the freed giant pandas could set up new communities in their natural habitat and thus enrich the wild population both in quantity and quality," Li said.

Construction began last month on a research center to train giant pandas born in captivity to survive in the wild.