Broodstock
Science Centres: Aquaculture and Biotechnology
As a farmer your primary needs are broadly to optimise the performance of your stocks and maximise profitability. Optimising stock husbandry, feed management and ensuring you have well trained staff will take you part of the way to ensuring you have an efficiently operating and profitable business.
At NIWA we have established a world leading team of experts to assist you to develop and manage your most valuable resource: your broodstock.
Our Service
Our team can help you with all aspects of broodstock management from the initial acquisition, set-up, nutrition and husbandry of new broodstock, through to more advanced services helping you manage the genetic make-up of your broodstock to optimise their performance. By working closely with you we can develop a broodstock selection and development programme tailor-made for your operation and designed at an appropriate level to meet your specific business needs.
Staged Process
Stage 1 - Consultation
We begin the process by carrying out a comprehensive review of your operation to identify the resources you have available and your current constraints.
Stage 2 - Definition
After consultation we will define your specific needs and develop a range of costed options to meet these based on your current requirements and future goals.
Stage 3 – Implementation & Support
We will help you to manage the roll-out of your selected option and provide you with ongoing support and advice as defined in Stage 2.
Options
- Broodstock husbandry, nutrition and spawning advice
- Development of broodstock management and selection plans appropriate for the resources available and individual goals of the farmer
- Breeding programme design and implementation protocols
- Development of methods for the accurate analysis of commercially valuable traits
- Genetic evaluation of performance traits and selection index development
- Data management and analysis
- Application of DNA markers for the determination of parentage
- Application of techniques such as sperm cryopreservation to enhance broodstock management and selection
Examples of Success
Atlantic salmon
One of the most extensively developed breeding programmes for aquaculture is the Norwegian Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) programme, focussed on the improvement of stocks for sea cage rearing.
This breeding program started in 1971 as a government program to assist the fledgling salmon industry. In the 1980s the operation was assumed by the producers to ensure the stocks continued to improve, were secure, and available to farmers. The program maintained over 200 families of Atlantic salmon, each of which was evaluated for at least four economically valuable traits: body weight at harvest, low incidence of early maturation, disease resistance, and flesh quality.
There are now two commercial breeding companies (AquaGen and SalmoBreed) that supply selected salmon stocks to the global industry. Farming of these improved stocks is not limited to Norway, but they are also farmed in Canada, Chile, and the U.S. because of their superior production traits.
The economic gains from the Atlantic salmon breeding programmes are considerable; it takes half the time to reach harvest size (3.5 kg); 20 months instead of 40 months and significantly less feed to reach the same endpoint. A recent report estimates that as a consequence salmon feed costs in Norway have been reduced by $US 230 million per year.
Tilapia
Tilapia selected through the GIFT programme are popular with farmers in developing countries due to their improved growth and survival. In the GIFT programme, the genetic gain for growth has ranged from 6 to 12 percent per generation and the fish continue to show response after several generations of selection. The improved fish have remarkable vigour and high adaptation to different farming conditions in Asia.
Recently Ponzoni et al 2007 estimated the economic benefits of farming the GIFT strain. They concluded that even using the most conservative assumptions, genetic improvement programs are highly beneficial from an economic viewpoint. For the GIFT case they studied, where a centralised broodstock facility supplies commercial hatcheries with improved stocks on an annual basis, economic benefits ranging from over US$ 4 million to US$32 million annually, and corresponding benefit cost ratios of 8.5 to 60 were achieved.
In conclusion, despite the initial set up costs, selective breeding programmes are one of the most powerful and cheapest means of increasing the efficiency of aquaculture.
Reference:
Ponzoni, R.W., Nguyen, N.H. and Khaw, H.L. (2007). Investment appraisal of genetic improvement programs in Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus). Aquaculture 269 187–199.
Who to contact for more information
Dr Jane Symonds