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| Should other nations follow Alaska's lead in using aquaculture as part of a fishery enhancement programme? |
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Major advance claimed in salmon fingerprinting 15 August, 2007 -
The development, unveiled at AquaNor, is being described as a ‘quantum leap’ in salmon breeding, which will enable LNS to apply Marker-Assisted Selection to their breeding programme, making it, they say, even more effective. LNS, based in Alloa, Scotland, manages the global breeding activities of salmon egg and smolt producers, Landcatch Scotland and Landcatch Chile, and have been applying DNA fingerprinting for over ten years to their breeding programme. Now, by combining their extensive performance database with the results of DNA fingerprinting, LNS has been able to apply Quantitative Trait Loci (QTLs) to breeding selections in relation to both growth and disease resistance - including resistance to Infectious Pancreatic Necrosis (IPN). The advance marks the first time any salmon breeding company has been able to use QTLs for growth and resistance to disease for the Marker-Assisted Selection of pedigree broodstock. “Effectively, this means we can now look directly at the DNA of our broodstock salmon and identify those with the most favourable genes for growth and robustness,” said Dr Alan Tinch, LNS breeding programme director. “As a result, we can now identify those individuals from our broodstock families which we know will give our customers the best results. “In the past, separating the best from the rest, in terms of individual trait selection, was based on performance records. Being able to examine the DNA of our broodstock and know exactly which fish have the best genes for growth and disease resistance, moves our breeding work forward by quite a significant step. Although it’s a big statement to make, this really is a ‘quantum leap’ in the breeding of salmon.” With their own in-house genotyping lab in Alloa, the LNS team are continuing to identify other QTLs for other commercially-important traits. “We already produce eggs and smolts which are selected according to individual customer requirements across a wide range of traits,” said Dr Tinch. “As we identify more QTLs, we will be able to increase our ability to customise eggs and smolts to customers’ needs, as well as increasing the rate of genetic improvement. It’s a very exciting development.” LNS is already responsible for the production of 110 million salmon eggs from locations in Scotland and Chile and is on target to supply 20% of the world’s salmon eggs by 2010. www.fishfarmer magazine.com is published by Special Publications. Special Publications also publish FISHupdate magazine, FISHupdate.com, the Fish Industry Yearbook, the Scottish Seafood Processors Federation Diary, the Fish Farmer Handbook and a range of wallplanners.
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