Location: Stoneville, Mississippi
Project Number: 6066-10600-003-000-D
Project Type: In-House Appropriated
Start Date: Feb 25, 2025
End Date: Feb 24, 2030
Objective:
Objective 1: Develop strategies that accelerate genetic improvement of economically important traits and release improved stocks of blue and channel catfish.
Sub-objective 1.A. Continue selection for increased growth rate and carcass yield in channel catfish, blue catfish, and channel catfish x blue catfish hybrids, and establish a selected line of blue catfish to produce improved broodstock.
Sub-objective 1.B: Compare imputation accuracy of parental and grandparental haplotypes using array-based vs sequence-based SNP detection in channel catfish.
Sub-objective 1.C: Collect a population of ‘wild’ channel catfish from the Mississippi River system to establish a breeding population of wild fish to allow comparison of wild, Delta Select strain and Delta Control strain channel catfish for a series of economically important traits. (Bosworth, Waldbieser, Quiniou, Vacant quantitative geneticist).
Sub-objective 1.D: Cryopreserve sperm from Delta Select strain, Delta Control Strain, and commercial populations of channel catfish.
Objective 2: Identify genes and mechanisms regulating economically important traits as targets for genetic improvement.
Sub-objective 2. Estimate heritability for fillet texture and its correlations with growth and carcass yield in the Delta Select strain of channel catfish and determine potential of improving fillet texture through selection.
Objective 3: Optimize hybrid catfish fry and fingerling production efficiency.
Sub-objective 3.A: Develop recombinant gonadotropin peptides.
Sub-objective 3.B. Develop cell lines that express channel catfish gonadotropin releasing hormone receptors for in vitro evaluation of peptide spawning aid formulations.
Sub-objective 3.C: Improvement of blue catfish sperm quality.
Approach:
We will continue selective breeding of channel and blue catfish to support sustainability of the US catfish industry. Selection will include the identification of novel sources of genetic variation, and the investigation of new traits for inclusion in the selection index. Germplasm with superior performance will be released to the catfish industry. We will also work toward improving the production of gametes and spawning techniques with the goal of increasing the efficiency of hybrid catfish production. This project will produce technologies to enhance economic performance of catfish farming, thereby improving global competitiveness and allowing domestic aquaculture to reduce dependence on imports to meet the U.S. demand for seafood.
