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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Leetown, West Virginia » Cool and Cold Water Aquaculture Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #353457
Research Project: Integrated Research Approaches for Improving Production Efficiency in Salmonids

Location: Cool and Cold Water Aquaculture Research

Title: Lessons from the application of genomic selection to rainbow trout aquaculture

Author
item Palti, Yniv
item Vallejo, Roger
item Evenhuis, Jason
item SILVA, RAFAEL - University Of Georgia
item Liu, Sixin
item Gao, Guangtu
item MARTIN, KYLE - Troutlodge, Inc
item LOURENCO, DANIELA - University Of Georgia
item Wiens, Gregory - Greg
item Leeds, Timothy - Tim

Submitted to: International Symposium on Genetics in Aquaculture
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/31/2018
Publication Date: 7/15/2018
Citation: Palti, Y., Vallejo, R.L., Evenhuis, J., Silva, R., Liu, S., Gao, G., Martin, K., Lourenco, D., Wiens, G.D., Leeds, T.D. 2018. Lessons from the application of genomic selection to rainbow trout aquaculture. International Symposium on Genetics in Aquaculture. 716:02.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Selective breeding programs to improve performance in economically important traits such as growth, disease resistance, slaughter traits and flesh quality are key to the success and sustainability of maturing aquaculture industries. The rate of genetic progress per generation has traditionally been impaired for traits like disease resistance and fillet characteristics that cannot be measured directly in the selection candidates, as fish breeders have typically relied on phenotype records from siblings of the breeding candidates. This has limited progress to family-based selection that does not exploit within family variation. Recent advances in molecular biology technologies coupled with sophisticated bioinformatics and statistical modeling have facilitated the use of molecular information in selective breeding programs to take advantage of within family variation and accelerate the rate of genetic gains. The most widely used approaches are marker assisted selection and whole-genome enabled selection, or genomic selection in short. The efficacy of genomic selection approaches to enhance genetic and economic gains is dependent upon the level of genetic variation and the genetic architecture of the trait in the specific breeding population. Examples from recent rainbow trout breeding research with nucleus populations from Troutlodge, Inc. and the USDA/ARS National Center for Cool and Cold Water Aquaculture will be presented, and a systematic research approach that is based on those empirical examples will be described and discussed.