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Submitted to: Aquaculture America Conference
Publication Type: Abstract Only Publication Acceptance Date: 10/2/2014 Publication Date: 2/22/2015 Citation: Cleveland, B.M. 2015. The national strategic plan for federal aquaculture research, specific goal #4: Improve production efficiency and well-being. Aquaculture America Conference. A837. Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: The 2014-2019 National Strategic Plan for Federal Aquaculture Research identifies a series of specific goals that identify research priorities for Federal agency and interagency research programs. Collectively, these priorities define research activities with the broad outcome of supporting aquaculture development in the United States. Specific goal #4 indicates the need to improve production efficiency and well-being, supporting research across multiple disciplines including establishing species-appropriate production systems, identifying and minimizing stressors, and understanding the physiology of economically important traits. Improving production efficiency, whether fish or shellfish, in-land or off-shore systems, ponds or raceways, requires properly matching species to appropriate production environments and market demands. Research will address the expansion of commercially viable species and practices that enable production of target sizes in changing markets. These efforts will contribute to the establishment of models that integrate market opportunities with production capacity. The outcome will be sustainable and profitable production coming from proper matching of animal genotypes to the production system and consumer requirements. Exposure to stressors negatively affects fish well-being and reduces fillet quality. Previous and ongoing research has identified social, nutritional, and environmental stressors, characterized how different species respond to these stressors, and identified the physiological and genomic mechanisms involved in the stress response. Future research will emphasize the development of novel tools that define and reduce stressors in production systems and minimize their effect on fish well-being, thereby improving growth, production efficiency, and product quality. Previous research efforts have defined physiological mechanisms that regulate growth performance, nutrient retention, and reproductive processes, and identified biological factors that regulate those mechanisms. These research efforts will continue and emphasize the integration of these findings into production methods that improve economically important traits, lower input costs, and reduce nutrient output. Genomic approaches will investigate genetic variation in these mechanisms and contribute to identification of novel genomic markers for selective breeding and genetic improvement of desirable traits. Specific goals include increasing fillet yield and reducing visceral waste products, increased nutrient retention with an emphasis on protein retention, and improved product quality. |
