Genomic selection for feed efficiency

Offentlig prosjektsammendrag

In Norwegian aquaculture, feed is the single most important factor affecting production costs. Improving the biological feed efficiency (i.e. reducing the amount of feed consumed relative to amount of fish produced) is of utmost importance from both economical, environmental and food security reasons. Biological feed efficiency is a function of two traits: feed intake and body growth. In individual fish, the latter is easily recorded, while the former is not. Through the Foods of Norway project, a novel methodology based on stable isotope profiling has been developed for individual recording of feed efficiency. The method has so far been verified in Atlantic salmon parr, in freshwater tanks with feed recording on a tank level, and using feed artificially enriched with stable (non-harmful) isotopes of nitrogen and carbon. However, scaling the method up to commercial aquaculture in open-cage saltwater production requires a more cost-effective production of the isotope-enriched feed. The first aim of the project is thus to develop a less costly method for producing isotope-enriched feed, preferably using ingredients with natural variation in isotope profile. Secondly, we wish to apply the feed to fish (rainbow trout) kept in separate tanks, where growth, feed intake and thus feed efficiency is recorded individually, and also validate to what extent isotope profiling using the novel experimental feed can capture individual differences in feed efficiency. Thirdly, we wish to perform a large-scale experiment in the sea, using harvest size Atlantic salmon from the AquaGen breeding nucleus, where we perform genetic analyses of feed efficiency data, for selective breeding and genomic selection for improved biological feed efficiency. An assessment will be made of the impact of genetically selecting for feed efficiency on economic and environmental sustainability.